public speaking in a multicultural world essay

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Understanding Cultural Differences in Public Speaking

Ever felt lost in translation while delivering a speech to an international audience? This happens when we overlook the role of cultural nuances in public speaking. From body language, gestures to addressing local beliefs, understanding these can unveil new dimensions in your communication style and make you more relatable.

Get ready as we delve into effective strategies that transform your speeches from monologues into engaging conversations! Let’s embark on this journey together!

Key Takeaways

• Cultural differences in public speaking impact communication styles , nonverbal cues, and values/beliefs, requiring speakers to adapt their approach for effective engagement.
• Understanding diverse cultural communication styles is crucial for avoiding confusion or offense and building connections with international audiences .
• Nonverbal cues such as eye contact, gestures, and facial expressions vary among cultures and must be interpreted within specific cultural contexts for successful cross-cultural communication.
• Cultural values and beliefs significantly influence public speaking, shaping language use, nonverbal cues, tonal variations, and body language. Ignoring these differences can result in miscommunication or unintentional offense.
• Common cultural misunderstandings can hinder effective public speaking by impacting emotional expression, conflict resolution approaches, or personal information sharing. Speakers should be aware of these potential challenges to connect with their audience successfully.
• Strategies for adapting to cultural differences include developing cultural sensitivity skills, overcoming language barriers through translation services, and respecting cultural norms/taboo topics during speech preparation.
• Researching the cultural context of a foreign country helps speakers tailor their messages to resonate with diverse audiences while adapting to local customs/traditions. This enhances rapport building and avoids unintended misunderstandings or offense during presentations.

Importance of Understanding Cultural Differences in Public Speaking

Understanding cultural differences in public speaking is essential for effective communication and audience engagement. Cultural communication styles, nonverbal cues, values, and beliefs can greatly impact how a message is received, making it crucial to adapt and tailor one’s approach accordingly.

Cultural communication styles and their impact

Diving into the world of public speaking, it’s a given that your audience won’t always share the same cultural background as you. This makes understanding different cultural communication styles an invaluable asset in your toolkit.

Why so? Let’s get into it. Cultural differences wield notable influence on how people communicate — from the tone and volume to the speed of speech; all these factors are shaped by culture.

In a multicultural environment, this can either make or break your presentation. Misjudging a listener’s cultural communication style means risking confusing or even offending them, thereby creating barriers rather than bridges between you and your audience.

On the flip side, being able to navigate these diverse communication styles allows for more effective engagement with international business partners or at global conferences, further solidifying your position as an inexorable force in public speaking.

So whether it’s mastering social norms or grappling with language nuances, successful adaptation to various cultural communication styles paves the way for engaging speeches and lively discussions across borders.

Nonverbal communication in different cultures

Cracking the code of nonverbal communication across different cultures is crucial for public speakers. It’s not just about what you say, but how your body broadcasts unspoken signals that can either amplify your message or generate a cultural faux pas.

Across different societies worldwide, people interpret actions in social situations differently, making nonverbal cues fundamental components of intercultural communication.

Eye contact and gestures are two aspects of body language that vary significantly among cultures. In some places, steady eye contact indicates trustworthiness and openness while in others it may be seen as aggression or disrespect.

Understanding the significance behind these variations could mean the difference between sealing a deal or causing unintended offense during a presentation.

Facial expressions too, often regarded as universal forms of communication, can stir up confusion if not appropriately interpreted within cultural contexts. A smile might convey warmth and friendliness to one group but might signify embarrassment to another.

Good public speaking isn’t just mastering speech; it involves becoming fluent in the language of nonverbal cues around us—a recipe for successful cross-cultural communication! So next time you step on an international stage with your well-practiced speech remember – it’s not all about words; Interpreting and delivering effective nonverbal cues rooted deeply in cultural norms is equally integral.

Cultural values and beliefs and their impact

Diving into the rich tapestry of cultural values and beliefs illuminates their significant impact on public speaking. Culture is like an invisible hand, subtly guiding our communication styles.

It shapes not just language but also nonverbal cues, tonal variations, body language, and so much more. For example, in some cultures maintaining eye contact while delivering a speech denotes trust and confidence while in others it’s seen as disrespectful or aggressive.

Ignoring this aspect can lead to unintended miscommunication or even offend your audience unintentionally. As speakers venturing across diverse cultures – understanding these differences is essential because what might be persuasive in one culture could fall flat in another due to contrasting cultural norms and beliefs.

Furthermore, deep knowledge about the audience’s values results in speeches that are sincere and respectful – two key elements of ethical communication that resonate with multicultural audiences globally.

Cultural intelligence amplifies your competence as a speaker by fostering genuine connections based on crosscultural understanding – making every word count for you and your listeners.

Common cultural misunderstandings

Cultural misunderstandings can be a significant barrier in public speaking, affecting both the speaker and the audience. These misunderstandings often arise from differences in expressing emotions, conflicts, or personal information.

For example, what may be considered appropriate humor in one culture might be seen as offensive in another. Likewise, the level of directness or indirectness in communication varies among cultures and can impact how messages are received.

Understanding these common cultural misunderstandings is crucial for public speakers to effectively connect with their audience and avoid unintended negative reactions during presentations.

Strategies for Adapting to Cultural Differences in Public Speaking

Cultural sensitivity.

Cultural sensitivity is a crucial skill for public speakers when it comes to understanding and managing cultural differences. It involves recognizing and appreciating the diverse backgrounds and experiences of individuals, promoting empathy and understanding.

Cultural sensitivity goes beyond surface-level observations, requiring an effort to understand hidden aspects of culture. It’s important not to assign values or judgments to cultural differences but instead recognize them as equally valid.

By developing skills in cultural sensitivity, public speakers can improve their cross-cultural communication and effectively connect with diverse audiences from different backgrounds. As our society becomes increasingly diverse, fostering cultural competence, sensitivity, and awareness is essential for creating inclusive spaces where every voice is heard.

Language barriers

Language barriers are a significant challenge when it comes to public speaking, especially in an international context. Speaking different languages can often lead to misunderstandings and gaps in communication, making it difficult to effectively convey your message.

This is particularly crucial for public speakers who want to connect with diverse audiences around the world. Translation services can be a valuable resource in overcoming language barriers, allowing you to bridge the gap and ensure that your message is understood by everyone.

By addressing language barriers head-on, you can enhance the quality and safety of communication during public speaking engagements while promoting collaboration and understanding among individuals from different cultural backgrounds.

Cultural norms and taboos

Understanding cultural norms and taboos is vital for public speakers when navigating different cultural contexts. Different cultures have their own set of expectations regarding appropriate behavior, language usage, and topics that are considered taboo.

It is important to be aware of these cultural nuances to avoid unintentionally offending or alienating your audience.

For example, what may be acceptable humor in one culture could be seen as disrespectful or offensive in another. Similarly, certain gestures or body language that convey a positive message in one culture might have negative connotations in another.

Being mindful of these differences allows you to adapt your communication style accordingly and ensure effective cross-cultural interaction.

In addition, understanding the cultural norms and taboos associated with public speaking can also help you tailor your content appropriately. By recognizing which topics are sensitive within a particular culture, you can avoid potential misunderstandings or controversies during your speech.

Research and Preparation for Public Speaking in a Foreign Country

Researching and preparing for public speaking in a foreign country involves understanding the cultural context, adapting to local customs and traditions, and ensuring language proficiency.

Understanding the cultural context

In today’s interconnected world, public speakers often find themselves addressing diverse audiences from various cultural backgrounds. To effectively connect with these audiences, it is crucial to understand the cultural context in which they operate.

This means recognizing and appreciating the beliefs, customs, values, and behaviors that shape their communication styles.

By understanding the cultural context, public speakers can adapt their messages to resonate with different cultures. For example, knowing that some cultures value indirect communication while others prefer directness can help speakers tailor their language and tone accordingly.

Additionally, being aware of nonverbal cues such as gestures or personal space preferences can ensure effective communication across cultures.

Researching and preparing for public speaking engagements in foreign countries also requires an understanding of the cultural context. Learning about local customs and traditions helps speakers navigate potential pitfalls or avoid unintentionally offending their audience.

Moreover, having a basic knowledge of the local language shows respect and enhances rapport building.

Adapting to local customs and traditions

Understanding and adapting to local customs and traditions is crucial for public speakers when delivering presentations in foreign countries. Every culture has its own set of norms, values, and practices that shape communication styles and expectations.

By familiarizing themselves with these cultural nuances, speakers can ensure that their message resonates with the audience and avoids any unintended misunderstandings or offense.

Researching the customs and traditions of a specific culture allows speakers to tailor their approach accordingly. For example, knowing whether it is appropriate to address elders first or observe certain gestures of respect can significantly impact how they are perceived by the audience.

Moreover, understanding local customs helps avoid taboos or sensitive topics that may inadvertently offend attendees.

Adapting to local customs also demonstrates respect for the host country’s culture, fostering a positive connection with the audience. It shows an appreciation for diversity and creates an inclusive environment where everyone feels valued and understood.

Language proficiency

Having strong language proficiency is essential when it comes to public speaking, especially in a foreign country. Being able to communicate effectively and confidently in the local language can greatly enhance your ability to connect with the audience and convey your message.

Not only does it show respect for the culture and its people, but it also demonstrates your dedication to understanding and embracing diversity. Moreover, having proficiency in different languages improves attitudes towards those who are different from us and allows for greater empathy towards cultural values.

So, whether you’re striving for distinguished English speaking skills or working on mastering another language altogether, investing time in developing your language proficiency will undoubtedly benefit you as a public speaker navigating cultural differences.

In conclusion, understanding and adapting to cultural differences in public speaking is essential for effective communication. By being culturally sensitive and aware, speakers can connect with their diverse audience on a deeper level, avoid misunderstandings, and deliver impactful speeches.

So embrace cultural diversity and enhance your public speaking skills to engage with people from different backgrounds successfully!

1. How do cultural differences impact public speaking?

Cultural differences can impact public speaking in various ways, including communication style, body language, and audience expectations. Different cultures may have different norms for eye contact, gestures, and vocal tone, which can influence how a speaker is perceived and understood.

2. What are some common challenges when speaking to an international audience?

When speaking to an international audience, common challenges may include language barriers, varying levels of English proficiency among listeners, differing cultural beliefs and values that shape understanding and interpretation of messages, as well as potential miscommunications or misunderstandings due to unfamiliarity with certain sayings or idioms.

3. How can speakers adapt their presentations for different cultures?

Speakers can adapt their presentations for different cultures by researching the target culture’s communication styles and preferences beforehand. This includes understanding appropriate use of nonverbal cues, using relatable examples that resonate with the specific cultural context while avoiding potentially sensitive topics or offensive content.

4. What strategies can help improve cross-cultural communication during public speaking?

To improve cross-cultural communication during public speaking engagements, it is important to be mindful of cultural diversity within the audience. Speakers should strive for clarity in speech delivery by enunciating words clearly and avoid using jargon or technical terms that might not be easily understood outside of one’s own culture. Additionally addressing questions from the audience respectfully helps create a more inclusive environment where all participants feel valued regardless of their background knowledge on given topic being discussed

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Public Speaking in a Multicultural World

If you are an experienced public speaker, you may have noticed that your audience is changing, just as the world is changing. Most likely, you are seeing more people from other lands and cultures sitting in your audience. Public speaking in a multicultural world demands that you learn to adjust to other cultures, as well as adapt to how people from other lands will respond to you, the public speaker.

Here are some tips for speaking in a multicultural world:

Know your audience As with any audience, learn as much as you can about the audience before your presentation.

Find common goals Discover what you have in common and concentrate on the similarities, rather than the differences.

Show respect for other cultures Avoid being perceived as ethnocentric, the tendency to believe that our culture is superior to others. If your audience members feel as if you are attacking their culture, they will inwardly defend themselves and tune you out.

Learn to pronounce their names This is especially important if you will be calling on members of your audience or introducing one of them.

Adapt to their listening preferences and reactions Audiences respond to speakers in various ways around the world. Learn all the nuances you can about how an audience may react. For example in general: Audience members in Java, Indonesia turn to their neighbors and repeat what the speaker says when they like it, even as the speaker continues the presentation.

In some Asian cultures, audience members sit in complete silence, not wanting to break the speaker’s concentration.

African-American audiences participate in a “Call and Response” pattern in which the audience members respond directly to the speaker’s statements as if to add an extra emphasis.

American students like speeches that are short and to the point.

Germans prefer precise, error free presentations and are very annoyed at disorganization.

Israelis like to be presented with challenging and complex information so they can draw their own conclusions. Public speaking in a multicultural world is basically finding what you and your audience have in common, focusing on the similarities, showing respect for your differences and adapting to their listening preferences.

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47 Persuasion Across Cultures

Learning Objectives

• Explain the causes of cross-cultural miscommunication.
• Identify fundamental cross-cultural communication strategies.
• Practice cross-cultural dialogue.

Persuasion Across Cultures

NASEER ALOMARI, PH.D.

The Swedish journalist Thomas Larsson has defined globalization as “the process of world shrinkage, of distances getting shorter, things moving closer. It pertains to the increasing ease with which somebody on one side of the world can interact, to mutual benefit, with somebody on the other side of the world” (p. 9). Enhanced by the revolutionary advances in communication technologies, globalization has facilitated direct contact among people from various countries, cultural, and linguistic backgrounds. Face-to-face or technology-mediated, cross-cultural encounters are typically friendly, respectful, and positive despite cultural and linguistic barriers and differences. This chapter will explore the nature and causes of cross-cultural miscommunication and identify key strategies for effective cross-cultural persuasion.

The Root of Cross-Cultural Miscommunication

When people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds meet, the interaction is usually friendly and respectful. In cross-cultural communication, people are typically proud of their acceptance and tolerance and emphasize shared values with different people. Many people dream of traveling to foreign countries to learn about other nations, cultures, traditions, and religions. Unfortunately, misunderstandings and conflicts may occur when people from differing linguistic and cultural worldviews argue about controversial political or social issues.

While respect and tolerance can go a long way in reducing conflict among people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, misunderstandings can still result in severe disagreements and conflicts due to differences in worldviews and communication styles. Personal, social, and cultural factors usually shape a person’s communication style. However, how individuals express themselves reflects their socio-economic status and the influence and power in society. For instance, people who belong to a dominant or privileged group tend to speak in a way that reflects their influential status. Privileged individuals in some societies may project their dominant position over less privileged groups or individuals by using direct, assertive, and goal-oriented language. On the other hand, individuals with less power may reflect their lack of influence by using indirect or implicit expressions.

Despite sharing universally accepted values such as harmony, trust, sincerity, honesty, and loyalty among world cultures, traditions, and religions, cross-cultural communication can still be distrustful and tense due to differences in values, beliefs, and worldviews. Gender roles are perceived differently in different cultures and religions and are usually controversial. For example, in many cultures, men are protective of women and show respect by preventing or shielding them from working or doing demanding jobs. In contrast, barring women from work or doing challenging jobs is viewed as violating gender equality and fundamental workplace rights in other cultures. Thus, the different perceptions of gender roles may lead to miscommunication and serious misunderstandings in cross-cultural settings.

Miscommunication between people from different linguistic or cultural backgrounds may result from differences in values, beliefs, or communication styles. For example, people in some cultures emphasize direct and explicit communication to express individualism, independence, and pride. Furthermore, the straightforward communication style is viewed positively in Western cultures as an honest and practical approach to personal and professional interactions.

Cross-Cultural Persuasion Strategies

Persuasion involves influencing others to do or believe something by presenting convincing reasons or evidence. Cialdini (2001) has identified six persuasion techniques that can help speakers win hearts and minds. The six techniques can be used in different combinations and include persuading listeners to like and trust the speaker as someone who has something valuable to offer. To like you, your listeners have to feel appreciated and respected by you, and to trust you; they need to trust your knowledge or expertise and trust your commitment to your ideas. Effective cross-cultural communication should be based on effective persuasion techniques and the strategies specific to communication in diverse linguistic and cultural settings. The following are fundamental cross-cultural communication strategies:

Emphasizing Shared Values

The first cross-cultural persuasion strategy is to build rapport and establish by emphasizing your values with your audience from a different linguistic or cultural background. New York City is an excellent example of how millions of people from all corners of the globe overcome countless linguistic and cultural barriers. New Yorkers live, work, and prosper in their diverse communities by championing such values as freedom, equality, and justice, which serve as a solid foundation for communication and persuasion.

A practical example of building rapport by emphasizing shared values is loyalty to family and community to a listener who grew up in Saudi Arabian society. Al-Zahrani (1993) explored the differences between Americans and Saudis and concluded that Saudis are more collectivist than Americans. People from collectivist cultures tend to be family- and group-serving than people from individualist cultures who are more self-serving. By sharing one’s loyalty and love for family, people from a collectivist culture like the Saudis and others from individualist cultures like Americans establish a solid ground for persuasion.

Focusing on Meaning and Intention

Focus on meaning and intention is critical since it helps reduce or eliminate minor distractions, common in cross-cultural communication and persuasion. For instance, while people in some cultures express themselves indirectly and implicitly to maintain harmony and show courtesy, others do so directly and explicitly to show honesty and trustworthiness. Consequently, it is not uncommon for two people from the abovementioned cultures to misunderstand each other as direct and explicit speakers may appear bold and disrespectful, while indirect and implicit speakers may seem elusive or non-committal. Recognizing the difference between implicit and explicit communication styles reduces the chance of misunderstanding and conflict.

Speakers from individualist cultures may appear to listeners from collectivist cultures as self-centered and self-important. Conversely, speakers from collectivist cultures may appear to listeners from individualistic cultures as selfless and lacking in self-esteem. But, of course, both impressions can be completely wrong since communication styles reflect social norms, power structure, and relationships rather than individual traits. Therefore, distinguishing between personal qualities and cultural styles of communication is crucial for establishing and maintaining rapport and avoiding conflict.

Persuasion requires understanding what the person you are speaking with says and means. While this might be straightforward in a language and tradition you are familiar with, it is trickier when engaging in cross-cultural persuasion. For example, many Japanese prefer to show disagreement indirectly while many Americans do so directly. Therefore, it is common for the Japanese to perceive Americans as aggressive or uncourteous. Conversely, Americans may perceive the Japanese as elusive, indecisive, or weak. Both perceptions can be completely mistaken, backfire, and undermine “trust and developing relationships” (Rahman 11).

Engaging in Empathetic Listening

Global and social media can intensify cultural and political tensions, contribute to miscommunication, and divide communities. Cross-cultural communication can be particularly fraught with miscommunication challenges due to the linguistic and cultural barriers that separate people from different backgrounds. Therefore, applying empathetic listening and suspending judgment are critical strategies for effective communication and persuasion. Furthermore, eliminating or reducing misunderstandings and tension necessitates approaching cross-cultural communication with open-mindedness and willingness to compromise and find solutions to problems (Putnam & Roloff, 1992).

Understanding other people’s cultural context and perspective are critical for decreasing conflict and improving persuasiveness. For example, while some cultures adhere to strict rationality as a persuasive strategy, others may view strict adherence to logic as attempts to dictate and impose opinions and solutions without fully understanding the discussion’s political, social, or cultural context. On the other hand, appealing to emotion, which is common in some cultures, can be interpreted as avoiding facts or ignoring logic and reason. Empathetic listening requires showing others your genuine interest in understanding their ideas. One way to show empathy is by paraphrasing speakers’ viewpoints in your own words, asking for clarification, or expressing appreciation of their contribution to the discussion.

Approaching Persuasion as Dialogue

In this era of globalization, ethnic, cultural, and religious diversity, pluralism, and multiculturalism have become the norm in the United States and across the globe. The emerging global, pluralistic culture in which people from different backgrounds work and live together will shape how people view themselves, others, and their perception of reality. In such a pluralistic environment, cross-cultural communication requires dialogue with others “to understand one another’s point of view, to show tolerance, listening, and flexibility of thought in the face of sociocultural gaps” (Eliyahu-Levi 417).

Linguistic and cultural barriers can be decreased or eliminated if communication is focused on meaning and purpose. For example, millions of people use English as a foreign language (EFL) to communicate effectively without necessarily adopting the cultural values, beliefs, or styles of native speakers of English. Adopting dialogue helps maintain a positive tone when speaking with people with different communication styles and cultural etiquette. Thus, it is essential to remember that when communicating with EFL speakers, the latter may not observe the values, opinions, or communication strategies used by native English speakers. Furthermore, it is essential to remember that when engaging in persuasive dialogue with people from different linguistic or cultural backgrounds than yours, the latter filter the ideas through the lens of their communication patterns and social and political experiences. Therefore, suspending judgment and listening carefully to the arguments and evidence help achieve mutual understanding, reach an agreement, and resolve conflicts.

Approaching cross-cultural persuasion as a two-way dialogue helps build trust and reduce disagreements and tension. Dialogue requires participants to listen carefully, be flexible, and give up trying to control the communication process to achieve predetermined outcomes. Kent and Taylor (2002) view dialogue as a means to solidify sympathy, satisfaction, and trust, essential for relationship building between people who would otherwise find no grounds for reasoning and agreement. Hence, cross-cultural communication is essentially a compromise between people committed to searching for ways to engage and remain in constant dialogue that may seem impossible at times.

In many Western cultures, monolog is hailed as a winning method of speech to persuade and change hearts and minds. However, in cross-cultural communication, monologs may be counterproductive. It should, therefore, be replaced by dialogue which is a balanced two-way symmetrical communication process that leads to mutual understanding between participants (Grunig, Grunig & Dozier, 2006).

Building linguistic and cultural bridges are fundamental strategies for effective cross-cultural persuasion. Engaging in genuine dialogue for understanding and being understood is the basis for building trust, reducing tension, and reaching an agreement.

Key Takeaways

• When creating your persuasive outline and rehearsing your speech, be sure to check for common miscommunication pitfalls. Consider revising and editing your work and your delivery to demonstrate intercultural competence and effective linguistic cross-cultural persuasion.

Al-Zahrani, Saad Said A., and Stan A. Kaplowitz. “Attributional biases in individualistic and collectivistic cultures: A comparison of Americans with Saudis.”  Social Psychology Quarterly  (1993): 223-233.

Cialdini, Robert B. “The science of persuasion.”  Scientific American  284.2 (2001): 76-81.

Eliyahu-Levi, Dolly. “Cross-cultural online encounters with peers from different countries.”  Distance Education  41.3 (2020): 402-423.

Grunig, James E., Larissa A. Grunig, and David M. Dozier. “The excellence theory.”  Public Relations Theory II  (2006): 21-62.

Kent, Michael L., and Maureen Taylor. “Toward a dialogic theory of public relations.”  Public Relations Review  28.1 (2002): 21-37.

Larsson, Tomas.  The Race to the Top: The Real Story of Globalization.  Cato Institute, 2001.

Putnam, Linda L., and Michael E. Roloff, eds.  Communication and Negotiation . Vol. 20. Sage, 1992.

Rahman, Khairiah A. “Dialogue and persuasion in the Islamic tradition: Implications for journalism.”  Global Media Journal , Canadian Edition 9.2 (2016): 9-26.

Public Speaking Copyright © by Dr. Layne Goodman; Amber Green, M.A.; and Various is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Module 4: Considering the Audience

Every audience is diverse, learning objectives.

Describe key considerations in speaking to diverse audiences.

Every audience is diverse. The question becomes in what way are they diverse. What is the unique mix of this audience? How do they differ or overlap in terms of age, race, religion, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, and so on? Your demographic analysis might give you a partial answer to some of these questions, but it won’t—and can’t—explain how the audience members relate to any given categories of demographics or identity. The most important rule is  never assume. Don’t assume you know something about any given member of your audience—or the audience as a whole—based on their identity, demographics, or background. Thus, attending to the diversity of your audience often means reminding yourself to put away your assumptions and preconceptions to try to create the most accessible and appropriate speech for this particular group of people.

Your language should be appropriate for the age of your listeners.

Age : A diversity of ages in your audience means that you need to think about the examples you use in your speech, especially generationally grounded references to popular culture or experiences. If you were to say, “of course, we all remember those long lines at the gas pumps during the 1973 oil crisis,” you’d probably leave most of your audience behind—unless you knew for certain that you were talking to people aged 55 or older. Also, if there are children in the audience (for instance, if you’re speaking at an event with families), you’ll want to avoid language or content that is inappropriate for younger listeners.

Race/Ethnicity : It’s important to remember that every communication practice takes place within a specific cultural context. As speakers, we each bring to the speaking situation the complexity of our own identities, and as listeners, we hear through the filter of our cultural context. Public communication within a racially and ethnically diverse society requires both inward and outward thinking: first, we need to analyze our own cultural context to become aware of our own assumptions, tendencies, and preconceptions. Next, looking outward, we need to consider how the content of our speech might be received by listeners whose context and expectations differ from our own. At the very least, speakers should avoid language that could alienate their listeners. For more on preventing alienation, see the section on inclusive language.

Racial and ethnic background, like all cultural context, can shape an audience’s expectations around a speaker’s performance, including body language; interactivity; metaphors; figures of speech; and vocal tone, pitch, and rate. Likewise, the speaker may have expectations about how an audience will react to them and what kind of feedback they can count on during the speaking situation. When the audience and the speaker do not share the same experiences in speaking situations, it can be a challenge—but often a highly productive one—to bridge the gap and find common cause in the power of the message. 

Socioeconomic Status or Class : Attentive speakers will consider how socioeconomic status can inform their own worldviews and that of their audience. When speaking with a socioeconomically diverse audience (which is most audiences), it can be helpful to consider places where one can make an implicit (unspoken or implied) assumption about educational level, housing situation, travel opportunity, or financial priorities. Socioeconomic status has a lot to do with the values and priorities or your audience members—the things they think are most important in their lives, and therefore the approaches and arguments most likely to convince them. In an essay called “Invisible Identities: Notes on Class and Race,” David Engen talks about his experience learning and writing about communication from a working-class, blue-collar background. “Because members of different social classes come to see the world differently,” Engen writes, “we can make cautious generalizations about the attitudes and values present within a given social class.” [1] Here is an example of one such “cautious generalization”: Some experts suggest that working-class culture tends to stress interdependence, “the ability to adjust to the situation, build community, and be responsive to others,” over the  independent values highlighted by middle- or upper-class cultures: the “ability to make choices, pave [their] own paths, and voice [their] ideas and opinions.” [2]

Gender and Sexuality : As we discuss in greater length in the section on inclusive language, it is important to steer clear of gendered language (like “ man kind”) and avoid gendered pronouns (“A speaker should watch his language”). Avoid sexualized or gendered language, which can be off-putting or offensive. For instance, consider this quote from Warren Buffett: “No matter how great the talent or efforts, some things just take time. You can’t produce a baby in one month by getting nine women pregnant.” Some might find this insight clever or profound, others might find it in poor taste, but either way, it divides the audience along gendered lines: the you  in Buffett’s quote is male and heterosexual. [3] One should also be wary of statements about relationships and family that can be considered heteronormative  or  heterosexist : that is, assuming heterosexuality as a default, preferred, or normal mode of sexual orientation. [4]

Ability : An important consideration in preparing your speech presentation is to make your content as accessible as possible. Here are some accessibility tips to keep in mind:

During the speech:

• Use a microphone if it’s available. The amplification can help participants with hearing impairments.
• Enunciate clearly and keep your face and lips visible to the audience.
• Ensure any question-and-answer period is accessible. If there is a microphone for questioners, make sure they use it. Otherwise, repeat the questions so everyone can hear them.
• Describe visual events in the speech. If you ask for a show of hands in response to a question, say the number of people who raised their hands.

In preparing visual aids:

• Use high contrast colors. Audience members with low vision or color blindness will appreciate it.
• Do not use color as the only method for distinguishing information.
• Use large (at least 24 point), simple, san serif fonts (e.g., Arial, Verdana, Helvetica) that can be easily read by most individuals from the back of a large room.
• Minimize the amount of text on slides. When you advance a slide, pause to let people read it before saying anything. This will allow people who are deaf and everyone else in the audience to read the slide before you start talking. Read the text on the slide to make sure people who are blind in the audience know what is on the slide.
• Limit the number of visuals on slides. Images that are used should be described so that people who are blind in the audience will know what image is being displayed. Graphs and charts should be described and summarized.
• Avoid presenting images of complex charts or tables. Make graphics as simple as possible.
• Make sure that videos are captioned and audio described. Sometimes it is good to give a brief description of what is in the video before it is played. This will help audience members who are blind to establish context for what they will hear.

Religion : For some people, religion is a core part of their identity. For others, religion is only a concept. In most cases, it is important to be religion-neutral when speaking with a group; do not assume everyone is of the same faith system as you are. Since most audiences will include a diversity of belief systems and various levels of commitment, you should avoid religious references that pigeonhole audience members into one faith or attitude toward religion. This is not to say, however, that a speaker shouldn’t discuss religion at all. If you are speaking about your own faith, background, or belief system, you should state that clearly. When describing the religious practices or beliefs of others, be sure to avoid generalizations or stereotypes, and use precise, respectful language. If you are speaking to a faith-based group, you can use religious references that will resonate with the audience.

Politics : It may be true that all communication is political, but some topics are considered more political than others. Usually when we think of a speech “getting political,” we mean that it veers into contested territory within national party politics. Some topics are inherently political, while others become politicized by current events, competing priorities, and high-level disagreements. If you want to communicate your overall message successfully, your approach to politics has to be guided by your knowledge of the audience. Some groups will largely share the same political beliefs—if you’re speaking to a group of young Republicans, you can guess which views they’re likely to support on a number of issues. In many cases, however, you may not know the political leanings of your audience, or you may have a mixed group with representatives of a variety of political leanings. In these situations, it is important not to alienate parts of your audience unnecessarily. If the political point isn’t crucial to your argument (such as a political joke or side-comment), you might reconsider it. If you’re trying to convince the audience of a political point—or discuss a politicized topic—try to start from common ground and move toward the conclusion you’re trying to achieve.

Language : If you’re speaking in your native language, it’s important to remember that not everyone is listening in their native language. Especially if you know that members of your audience have less experience with the language of your presentation, it’s best to avoid difficult idioms or figures of speech. If you say, “The code challenge, on the other hand, was a different kettle of fish,” a non-native English speaker might be at sixes and sevens. (See what we did there? That’s a British idiom meaning confused or in disarray).

Culture : The challenge of communicating across cultural differences often requires a set of tools beyond the suggestions above. When the cultures of two or more communicators differ significantly, we describe the situation with terms like “intercultural communication,” “multicultural communication,” or “co-cultural communication.” These are enormous fields of study, so we can only scratch the surface in this course. In the next pages, we’ll look at some of the key considerations in intercultural communication.

• Engen, David. "Invisible Identities: Notes on Class and Race." Our Voices: Essays in Culture, Ethnicity, and Communication.  Alberto González and Yea-Wen Chen, eds. Oxford, 2016, 253. ↵
• Dittmann, Andrea. Understanding Social Class as Culture . 1 June 2017, https://behavioralscientist.org/understanding-social-class-as-culture/ . See also Engen 254. ↵
• Andersen, Erika. "23 Quotes from Warren Buffett on Life and Generosity." Forbes,  2 Dec. 2013, https://www.forbes.com/sites/erikaandersen/2013/12/02/23-quotes-from-warren-buffett-on-life-and-generosity/#3c1a46fcf891 ↵
• https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/language ↵
• How can you make your presentation accessible?. Authored by : Richard Ladner . Provided by : University of Washington. Located at : https://www.washington.edu/doit/how-can-you-make-your-presentation-accessible . License : CC BY-NC-SA: Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike
• Girl covering ears. Authored by : Alpha. Located at : https://flic.kr/p/7G7DHu . License : CC BY-SA: Attribution-ShareAlike
• Every Audience is Diverse. Authored by : Sandra K. Winn with Lumen Learning. License : CC BY: Attribution

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Appendix A: Cultural Diversity in Public Speaking

It goes without saying that the United States is becoming more and more diverse. The millennial generation, those born between 1980 and 2000, are described the most diverse generation in American history. Forty-three percent are “non-white” due, in part, to increased immigration from Asia and Latin America in the recent past (Lilley, 2014). Even more, news stories and research indicate that the majority in the U.S. is not White, male, Protestant, and middle class, but multi-racial and ethnic, of different religions, 51% female, and of varying socio-economic groups. The population of Dalton State College is particularly affected by these long-term trends. Dalton’s Latino population is about 50% and the College’s Latino student enrollment is approximately 27%. These kinds of statistics may be similar to your institution.

Some issues related to the U.S.’s growing diversity were addressed in Chapter 2. In this appendix, we will look at how diversity can be a help and sometimes a challenge to a speaker.

Benefits and Challenges

The first way that diversity can be a help is if the speaker himself or herself has been exposed to diverse groups of people. Diversity should also be understood as not just ethnic or racial, although those tend to be in the forefront of many minds. Diversity of thought is often a more important type of diversity than what might appear on the surface. Your audience may “look” and “sound” like you, but have a completely different world view.

However, diversity can be a challenge because the more diverse an audience, the harder audience analysis and accommodating one’s speech to the audience become. Also, one must be sure that he or she truly understands the diversity of a group. For example, it is assumed that all Arabic speakers are Muslims; however, persons of Lebanese and Palestinian background may be of a Christian faith. As mentioned in Chapter 2, “Latino” is a broad term that involves many distinct cultures that often observe or utilize very different customs, holidays, political views, foods, and practices. The historical experience of African-Americans is not that of Afro-Caribbeans. A white person from South Africa considers herself “African,” although we in the U.S. might scratch our heads at that because of how we traditionally think of “African.”

The more one can study cross-cultural communication issues, the more sensitive one can become. It is, of course, next to impossible to know every culture intimately; some of us are still working on learning our own! What one should recognize is the basic ways that cultures are categorized or grouped, based on certain characteristics, while at the same time appreciating cultural uniqueness. Even more, appreciating cultural uniqueness leads one to see predominant communication styles.

One common method for categorizing or discussing cultures is by “collectivist” or “individualistic.” The United States, Germany, Israel, and a few other countries are highly individualistic, while Asian, some Latino, and some African cultures are highly collectivistic. While we in the U.S. value family, we generally are expected and encouraged to make our own life choices in career, education, marriage, and living arrangements. In more collectivist cultures, the family or larger community would primarily decide those life choices. In some cases, the individual makes decisions based on what is better for the community as a whole rather than what he or she would personally prefer.

Closely related to the distinction between collectivistic and individualistic cultures is the distinction between high-context and low-context. High-context cultures are so closely tied together that behavioral norms are implicit, or not talked about clearly; they are just understood and have been learned through close observation. For example, if you and your friends have a routine of watching football every Sunday, saying, “I’ll see you guys this weekend for the game” implies that the “when” and “where” of the game is so ingrained that it doesn’t even need to be explicitly stated. Variations from the norms are so rare that learning them is easy; there is no confusion.

Low-context cultures have to be more explicit because individual freedoms and wider diversity of behavioral norms make learning through observations more difficult. Continuing the example from above, in these cases you might be gathering with a new group of friends who need explicit, high-context communication to know what is going on: “We’ll meet at Jay’s house on Bleaker Street at 11:30 on Sunday morning.”

High-context cultures are described as more

…relational, collectivist, intuitive, and contemplative. This means that people in these cultures emphasize interpersonal relationships. Developing trust is an important first step to any business transaction. . . . These cultures are collectivist, preferring group harmony and consensus to individual achievement. And people in these cultures are less governed by reason than by intuition or feelings. (Wilson, n.d.)

Unfortunately, due to cultural biases, this description may make individuals from high-context cultures sound “less than” in some ways compared to Western cultures, which are low-context cultures. This is something we should be very careful about in addressing an audience or developing relationships with those of other cultures. Low-context cultures are often described as more rational, action-oriented, practical, clear in their communication, efficient, precise, and factual. In contrast, high-context cultures spend more time on interpersonal trust, are less direct and straightforward, and may use more polite and flowery language. These descriptions can be problematic. Let us be clear that these descriptions are about generalized differences, but not about “better” or “worse” and definitely not about every individual member of the culture. A person from a high-context culture is perfectly capable of being rational, action-oriented, practical, etc. and a person from a low-context culture still vaules interpersonal trust and politeness.

Another way to distinguish cultural groups is how decisions are made and the predominant communication modes. As mentioned in Chapters 1 and 3, public speaking—a logical, rational, straightforward, individualistic mode of communication, where traditionally one person attempts to exert power over others through verbal means—is at the core of Western communication history. Public speaking exists in the context of debate, two opposing views being presented either for one side to “win” or for the audience to choose a compromised, hybrid position. Other cultures have traditionally taken a more narrative communication mode, with storytelling being the way the important information is conveyed, more indirectly. Others value group discussion and keeping the harmony of the group, while others value almost exclusively the advice of elders in decision making. They believe the past and those who have experienced more of it have a wisdom all their own and are worthy of more respect.

In reference to cultural differences, we see the differences most obviously in nonverbal communication. While we Wes-terners may think of these nonverbal communication differences (such as the traditional Asian practice of greeting with a bow instead of shaking hands) as simply quaint or only superficial, they reveal deep difference in the world views of each culture. It would be worth your time to look into (easily done on the Internet) why Asians traditionally bow and Westerners shake hands. The practices say a lot about our shared histories and our views of the past, religion, and interpersonal trust. Likewise, it is not unusual for adult men friends of the same age to walk hand-in-hand in some Middle Eastern countries, but that is pretty uncommon in the United States and has a totally different interpretation. In the two places, the same practice means two entirely different things.

Nonverbal communication, which is what is most obvious and visible to us when we experience a new culture, is divided into types such as:

• Oculesics (eye behavior)
• Haptics (touch behavior)
• Proxemics (distance from others)
• Vocalics (voice characteristics)
• Chronemics (use of time in communication)
• Kinesics (use of the arms, legs, and posture)
• Olfactics (the meaning of smell in communication)
• Objectics (the use of objects to convey or interpret meaning)

Each of these has unique patterns in various cultures, and the differences in nonverbal communication behavior are often not understood to have deeper cultural meanings. Some cultures may avoid eye contact out of respect; their high-context nature means direct confrontation is discouraged. Westerners, however, tend to judge low eye contact rather harshly, as either dishonest, disinterest, or low self-esteem. Likewise, Westerners value punctuality sometimes over relationships, although the higher the status of the individual, the more tolerant we can be of tardiness. Other cultures simply do not understand the Western love affair with the hands on the clock. People from the United States are sometimes seen by other cultures as loud (vocalics), too direct and forward (oculesics), taking up too much space (kinesics and proxemics), and uncomfortable with touch or close spaces (haptics and proxemics).

Of course, most audiences of different cultural backgrounds may include those for whom English is a second (or third or fourth) language. Humor columnist Dave Barry ironically wrote, “Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages” (“Dave Barry Quotes,” 2013). Often second language speakers’ use of correct English is as good as or better than some native speakers in the United States[^1], but there will be some areas of concern here.

Watch out for metaphors, slang, and figurative language that simply have no meaning to non-native speakers of English. Many American expressions have to do with sports—everything from poker to football—and have no significance to those who have not grown up around those sports.[^2] Some of our expressions are actually racist or have a racist past, without our knowing or recognizing it because we do not know the origin of the phrase. When we say “bury the hatchet.” “go on the warpath,” or “put you in the paddy wagon,” “let’s hear from the peanut gallery,” or “I was gipped,” we are inadvertently referring to ethnic stereotypes as well as using references those of non-U.S. cultures would not understand.

Implications

What does all this mean to you, a college student taking a public speaking class? Well, as emerging technology makes communicating with people around the world easier and more common, there is a good chance you might find yourself communicating or interacting with persons from other cultures in your future careers. The ten items that follow should help you successfully navigate any such situations more effectively.

• Dealing with persons of other cultures may mean that the straightforward, supposedly rational approach expected from traditional public speaking may be too forceful for other cultures. More descriptive, more narrative, and more relational forms of communication may be of service. As mentioned in chapter 1, stories may be your most powerful form of communication, especially with audiences of diverse cultures. At the same time, choose your stories carefully (see the next bullet point below).
• Primarily, recognize the underlying values of the culture. The value and place of family stands out here. You would want to be sure to show respect to parents and grandparents in everything you say; if you cannot do that, do not mention them at all. Other values may have to do with how genders are treated, modesty in clothing, or criticism of the government.
• Do not jump to judge speakers of other cultures by Western standards. Time limits are a good example. While this book stresses speaking within time limits, a speaker from a high context culture may not see strict time limits as a standard for speaking and may go overtime.
• Know your audience. Know what they appreciate (positive) and what would concern them (negative).
• Approach humor very carefully. Humor is highly contextual, personal, and cultural. Test your humor on a group representative before the presentation.
• Show knowledge of their culture. If speaking to an audience made up predominantly of persons who speak a certain language, learning a greeting or phrase in that language is a way to gain rapport. You could also use appropriate holiday references. Two presidents known for their oratorical abilities used this technique. When John F. Kennedy spoke in Berlin in 1963, he famously said, “ Ich bin ein Berliner. ” (Although many have claimed he was actually saying the equivalent of “I am a Danish pastry” instead of “I am a person from Berlin,” that myth has been debunked.) Either way, it did not matter; the crowd appreciated it. Ronald Reagan did much the same at the beginning of his historic “Tear Down This Wall” speech at the Brandenburg Gate in 1986. His accent was not great, but his grammar and message were clear.
• If the group is diverse, don’t leave out or marginalize someone by assuming all share exactly the same values or practices.
• Never “tokenize” someone by drawing attention to his or her difference, at least not without asking permission.
• Use the term preferred by the group to refer to them. Not all persons of Latin American descent want to be called “Latino/a,” according to the Pew Research Center (Lopez, 2013). In fact, more prefer Hispanic, which is the term used by the U.S. Census Bureau since the 1970.
• Always seek for commonalities over differences.

Below we have included some references sent to us by a professor in Zhuhai, People’s Republic of China. He shared them with us in reference to public speaking in Asian cultures. As the world becomes “smaller” and we are confronted with diversity more and more everyday, we should continue to build our knowledge and skill in intercultural communication.

Oliver, R.T. (1976). Rhetoric and the social matrix: Reflections from the Asian classics. Communication: A Journal of the Communication Association of the Pacific , 4(2), 134-151. (read p. 141-148).

Oliver, R.T. (2009). The rhetorical tradition in China: Confucius and Mencius. Today’s Speech , 17(1), 3-8. (read ALL)

Gunaratne, S.A. (2009). Emerging global divides in media and communication theory: European universalism versus non-Western reactions. Asian Journal of Communication , 19(4), 366-383. (read p. 373-376)

Exploring Communication in the Real World Copyright © 2020 by Chris Miller is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License , except where otherwise noted.

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Speaking to Diverse Audiences

• Enunciate clearly. If possible, try to speak with a neutral accent to better include all audience members.
• Don't speak too fast. Remember that the normal pace of speech in one language might become incomprehensible for people relatively new to that language.
• Be careful with metaphors. Some metaphors that are appropriate in one culture can be offensive to another. A good example is references to sports not popular or practiced in a certain country, or phrases that are comical in one culture yet offensive in another.
• Know the meanings of words outside your native language . Unless you are absolutely sure of the meaning and pronunciation of a word you are using in a given language, do not use it. In some languages, slight variations of a vowel will completely alter the meaning of a word.
• Avoid slang, jargon and idiomatic expressions. Diverse audiences may not understand slang from a given country. English phrases such as "that dog don't hunt" or "cool as a cucumber" might be colorful, but the meaning could be lost on a large part of the audience.
• Be mindful of body language, eye contact and personal space. Posture, mannerisms and eye contact speak volumes and what is taken for granted in one culture might be considered offensive in another.

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Chapter Six – Analyzing your Audience

In contemporary public speaking, the audience that you are addressing is the entire reason you are giving the speech; accordingly, the audience is therefore the most important component of all speechmaking. It cannot be said often or more forcefully enough: know your audience ! Knowing your audience—their beliefs, attitudes, age, education level, job functions, language, and culture—is the single most important aspect of developing your speech strategy and execution plan. Your audience isn’t just a passive group of people who come together by happenstance to listen to you. Your audience is assembled for a very real and significant reason: they want to hear what you have to say. So, be prepared.

Spectacular achievement is always preceded by unspectacular preparation . – Robert H. Schuller

We analyze our audience because we want to discover information that will help create a bond between the speaker and the audience. We call this bond “identification.” Aristotle loosely called it “finding a common ground.” This isn’t a one-way process between the speaker and the audience; rather, it is a two-way transactional process. When you ask an audience to listen to your ideas, you are inviting them to come partway into your personal and professional experience as a speaker. And, in return, it is your responsibility and obligation to go partway into their experience as an audience. The more you know and understand about your audience and their psychological needs, the better you can prepare your speech and your enhanced confidence will reduce your own speaker anxiety. [1]

This chapter is dedicated to understanding how a speaker connects with an audience through  audience analysis. This analysis comes through 1) the situational analysis, (2) the demographic analysis, (3) the psychological analysis, (4) the multicultural analysis, and (5) the topic interest and prior knowledge analysis. Additionally, when collecting information about an audience, this is accomplished through direct observation, analysis by inference, and data collection. [2]

Approaches to Audience Analysis

Situational analysis.

The situational audience analysis category considers the situation for which your audience is gathered. This category is primarily concerned with why your audience is assembled in the first place. [3] Are they willingly gathered to hear you speak? Have your audience members paid to hear you? Or are your audience members literally “speech captives” who have somehow been socially or systematically coerced into hearing you? These factors are decisively important because they place a major responsibility upon you as a speaker, whichever is the case. The entire tone and agenda of your speech rests largely upon whether or not your audience even wants to hear from you.

Many audiences are considered captive audiences in that they have no real choice regarding the matter of hearing a given speech. In general, these are some of the most difficult audiences to address because these members are being forced to listen to a message, and do not have the full exercise of their own free will. Consider for a moment when you have been called to a mandatory work meeting. Were you truly happy to listen to the speaker, in all honesty? Some might say “yes,” but usually most would rather be doing something else with their time. This is an important factor to keep in mind when preparing your speech: some people simply do not want to listen to a speech they believe is compulsory.

Untitled  by Konrad-Adenauer-Gemeinschaftshauptschule Wenden.  CC-BY-NC-SA .

The voluntary audience situation, in stark contrast, is completely different. A voluntary audience is willingly assembled to listen to a given message. As a rule, these audiences are much easier to address because they are interested in hearing the speech. To visualize how this works, reflect upon the last speech, concert, or show you’ve chosen to attend. While the event may or may not have lived up to your overall expectations, the very fact that you freely went to the occasion speaks volumes about your predisposition to listen to—and perhaps even be persuaded by—the information being presented.

Sometimes audiences are mixed in their situational settings, too. Take the everyday classroom situation, for instance. While students choose to attend higher education, many people in the college classroom environment sadly feel as if they are still “trapped” in school and would rather be elsewhere. On the other hand, some students in college are truly there by choice, and attentively seek out knowledge from their teacher-mentors. What results from this mixed audience situation is a hybrid captive-voluntary audience, with those who are only partially interested in what is going on in the classroom and those who are genuinely involved. You literally get to hone your speech skills on both types of audiences, thereby learning a skill set that many never get to exercise. You should begin this wonderful opportunity by considering ways to inform, persuade, and humor a mixed situation audience. Think of it as a learning occasion, and you’ll do just fine.

Demographic Analysis

The second category of audience analysis is demography, or when you consider all of the pertinent elements defining the makeup and demographic characteristics of your audience. [4]  From the Greek prefix  demo (of the people), we come to understand that there are detailed accounts of human population characteristics, such as age, gender, education, occupation, language, ethnicity, culture, background knowledge, needs and interests, and previously held attitudes, beliefs, and values. Demographics are widely used by advertising and public relations professionals to analyze specific audiences so that their products or ideas will carry influence. However, all good public speakers consider the demographic characteristics of their audience, as well. It is the fundamental stage of preparing for your speech. Table 6.1 shows some examples of demographics and how they may be used when developing your speech. Of course, this is not an all-inclusive list. But it does help you get a good general understanding of the demographics of the audience you will be addressing.

“Wiki Conference 2011”  by Sucheta Ghoshal.  CC-BY-SA .

Consider for a moment how valuable it would be to you as a public speaker to know that your audience will be mostly female, between the ages of 25 and 40, mostly married, and Caucasian. Would you change your message to fit this demographic? Or would you keep your message the same, no matter the audience you were addressing? Chances are you would be more inclined to talk to issues bearing upon those gender, age, and race qualities. Frankly, smart speakers shift their message to adapt to the audience. And, simply, that’s the purpose of doing demographics: to embed within your message the acceptable parameters of your audience’s range of needs.

This, of course, raises an extremely important ethical issue for the modern speaker. Given the ability to study demographic data and therefore to study your audience, does a speaker shift the message to play to the audience entirely? Ethically, a speaker should not shift the message and should remain true to their motives. Only you will be able to alleviate the tension between your need to adapt to an audience and the need to remain true to form. [5]

Oftentimes, you will know the demographics of your class, simply because you have been around your classmates for some time. However, when this information is not known beforehand, this information is gathered by the questionnaire sampling method, and is done formally before a speaking event. Examples of questionnaires are in the next section on data collection.

Psychological Analysis

Unless your selected speech topic is a complete mystery to your audience, your listeners will already hold “attitudes, beliefs, and values” toward the ideas you will inevitably present. As a result, it is always important to know where your audience stands on the issues you plan to address ahead of time. The best way to accomplish this is to sample your audience with a quick questionnaire or survey prior to the event. This is known as the third category of audience analysis, or  psychological description . When performing a description, you seek to identify the audience’s attitudes, beliefs, and values. [10] They are your keys to understanding how your audience thinks.

In basic terms, an  attitude  is a learned disposition to respond in a consistently favorable or unfavorable manner with respect to a person, an object, an idea, or an event. [11] Attitudes come in different forms. You are very likely to see an attitude present itself when someone says that they are “pro” or “anti” something. But, above all else, attitudes are learned and not necessarily enduring. Attitudes can change, and sometimes do, whereas beliefs and values do not shift as easily. A sample list of attitudes can be found in Table 6.2.

These are just a small range of issues that one can either be “for” or “against.” And, while we are simplifying the social scientific idea of an attitude considerably here, these examples serve our purposes well. Remember, attitudes are not as durable as beliefs and values. But, they are good indicators of how people view the persons, objects, ideas, or events that shape their world.

Beliefs are principles [12] or assumptions about the universe.

Beliefs are more durable than attitudes because beliefs are hinged to ideals and not issues. For example, you may believe in the principle: “what goes around comes around.” If you do, you believe in the notion of karma. And so, you may align your behaviors to be consistent with this belief philosophy. You do not engage in unethical or negative behavior because you believe that it will “come back” to you. Likewise, you may try to exude behaviors that are ethical and positive because you wish for this behavior to return, in kind. You may not think this at all and believe quite the opposite. Either way, there is a belief in operation driving what you think. Some examples of beliefs are located in Table 6.3.

A value, on the other hand, is a guiding belief that regulates our attitudes. [13]  Values are the core principles driving our attitudes. If you probe into someone’s attitudes and beliefs far enough, you will inevitably find an underlying value. Importantly, you should also know that we structure our values in accordance to our own value hierarchy, or mental schema of values placed in order of their relative individual importance. Each of us has our own values that we subscribe to and a value hierarchy that we use to navigate the issues of the world. But we really aren’t even aware that we have a value hierarchy until some of our values come in direct conflict with each other. Then, we have to negotiate something called  cognitive dissonance , or the mental stress caused by the choice we are forced to make between two considerable alternatives.

For example, let’s assume that you value “having fun” a great deal. You like to party with your friends and truly enjoy yourself. And, in this day and age, who doesn’t? However, now that you are experiencing a significant amount of independence and personal freedom, you have many life options at your disposal. Let’s also say that some of your close personal friends are doing drugs. You are torn. Part of you wants to experience the “fun” that your close friends may be experiencing; but, the more sane part of you wants to responsibly decline. In honesty, you are juxtaposed between two of your own values—having “fun” and being responsible. This real life example is somewhat exaggerated for your benefit. Realize that we make decisions small and grand, based on our value hierarchies. Some basic values common to people around the world can be found in Table 6.4.

Values aren’t buses… They’re not supposed to get you anywhere. They’re supposed to define who you are. – Jennifer Crusie

Multicultural Analysis

Demography looks at issues of race and ethnicity in a basic sense. However, in our increasingly diverse society, it is worthy to pay particular attention to the issue of speaking to a multicultural audience. Odds are that any real-world audience that you encounter will have an underlying multicultural dimension. As a speaker, you need to recognize that the perspective you have on any given topic may not necessarily be shared by all of the members of your audience. [14] Therefore, it is imperative that you become a culturally effective speaker. Culturally effective speakers develop the capacity to appreciate other cultures and acquire the necessary skills to speak effectively to people with diverse ethnic backgrounds. Keep these in mind when writing a speech for a diverse audience.

Many people speak different languages, so if you are translating words, do not use slang or jargon, which can be confusing. You could add a visual aid (a poster, a picture, a PowerPoint slide or two) which would show your audience what you mean – which instantly translates into the audience member’s mind . [15]

“Audience Applause at MIT meeting in Beijing”  by Philip McMaster.  CC-BY-NC .

Ethnocentricity

Remember that in many cases you will be appealing to people from other cultures. Do not assume that your culture is dominant or better than other cultures. That assumption is called ethnocentrism , and ethnocentric viewpoints have the tendency to drive a wedge between you and your audience. [16]

  Christian, Jew, Muslim, shaman, Zoroastrian, stone, ground, mountain, river, each has a secret way of being with the mystery, unique and not to be judged. – Rumi

Not only do individuals have value systems of their own, but societies promote value systems, as well. Keep in mind the fact that you will be appealing to value hierarchies that are socially-laden, as well as those that are individually-borne.

Communication Styles

While you are trying to balance these language, cognition, cultural, and value issues, you should also recognize that some cultures prefer a more animated delivery style than do others. The intelligent speaker will understand this and adapt his or her verbal and nonverbal delivery accordingly.

Interest and Knowledge Analysis

“25th March 2011”  by Grace Flora.  CC-BY-NC-ND .

Finally, if the goal of your speech is to deliver a unique and stirring presentation (and it should be), you need to know ahead of time if your audience is interested in what you have to say and has any prior knowledge about your topic. You do not want to give a boring or trite speech. Instead, you want to put your best work forward, and let your audience see your confidence and preparation shine through. Additionally, you don’t want to make a speech that your audience already knows a lot about. So, your job here is to “test” your topic by sampling your audience for their topic interest and topic knowledge. Defined, topic interest is the significance of the topic to a given audience; often related to the uniqueness of a speaker’s topic. Likewise, topic knowledge is the general amount of information that the audience possesses on a given topic. These are not mere definitions listed for the sake of argument; these are essential analytical components of effective speech construction.

Anyone who teaches me deserves my respect, honoring and attention . – Sonia Rumzi  

Unlike multicultural audience analysis, evaluating your audience’s topic interest and topic knowledge is a fairly simple task. One can do this through informal question and answer dialogue, or through an actual survey. Either way, it is best to have some information, rather than none at all. Imagine the long list of topics that people have heard over and over and over. You can probably name some yourself, right now, without giving it much thought. If you started listing some topics to yourself, please realize that this is the point of this section of this module; your audience is literally thinking the same exact thing you are. Given that, topic preparation is strategically important to your overall speech success.

Again, do not underestimate the power of asking your audience whether or not your topic actually interests them. If you find that many people are not interested in your topic, or already know a lot about it, you have just saved yourself from a potentially mind- numbing exercise. After all, do you really want to give a speech where your audience could care less about your topic—or even worse— they know more about the topic than you do yourself? Not at all! The purpose of this section is to help you search for the highly sought-after public speaking concept called  uniqueness , which is when a topic rises to the level of being singularly exceptional in interest and knowledge to a given audience.

We know that you wish to excel in giving your speech, and indeed you shall. But first, let’s make sure that your audience is engaged by your topic and hasn’t already heard the subject matter so much that they, themselves, could give the speech without much (if any) preparation.

One final note: There’s an old adage in communication studies that reasons: “know what you know; know what you don’t know; and, know the difference between the two.” In other words, don’t use puffery to blind your audience about your alleged knowledge on a particular subject. Remember, there is likely to be someone in your audience who knows as much about your topic, if not more, than you do. If you get caught trying to field an embarrassing question, you might just lose the most important thing you have as a speaker: your credibility. If you know the answer, respond accordingly. If you do not know the answer, respond accordingly. But, above all, try and be a resource for your audience. They expect you to be something of an expert on the topic you choose to address.

Given the choice between trivial material brilliantly told versus profound material badly told, an audience will always choose the trivial told brilliantly . – Robert McKee

So now you may be saying to yourself: “Gee, that’s great! How do I go about analyzing my particular audience?” First, you need to know that there are three overarching methods (or “ paradigms ”) for doing an audience analysis: audience analysis by direct observation, audience analysis by inference, and audience analysis through data collection. Once you get to know how these methods work, you should be able to select which one (or even combination of these methods) is right for your circumstances.

Nothing has such power to broaden the mind as the ability to investigate systematically and truly all that comes under thy observation in life. – Marcus Aurelius

Direct Observation

Audience analysis by direct observation, or direct experience, is, by far, the simplest of the three paradigms for “getting the feel” of a particular audience. It is a form of qualitative data gathering. We perceive it through one or more of our five natural senses—hearing, seeing, touching, tasting, and smelling. Knowledge that we acquire through personal experience has more impact on us than does knowledge that we learn indirectly. Knowledge acquired from personal experience is also more likely to affect our thinking and will be retained for a longer period of time. We are more likely to trust what we hear, see, feel, taste, and smell rather than what we learn from secondary sources of information . [17]

All you really need to do for this method of observation is to examine your audience. If you are lucky enough to be able to do this before speaking to your audience, you will be able to gather some basic reflective data (How old are they? What racial mix does this audience have? Does their non-verbal behavior indicate that they are excited to hear this speech?) that will help you arrange your thoughts and arguments for your speech. [18]

“MobileHCI 2008 Audience”  by Nhenze.  CC-BY-SA .

One excellent way to become informed about your audience is to ask them about themselves. In its most basic form, this is data collection. Whenever possible, have conversations with them — interact with members of your audience—get to know them on a personal level (Where did you go to school? Do you have siblings/pets? What kind of car do you drive?) Through these types of conversations, you will be able to get to know and appreciate each audience member as both a human being and as an audience member. You will come to understand what interests them, convinces them, or even makes them laugh. You might arouse interest and curiosity in your topic while you also gain valuable data.

For example, you want to deliver a persuasive speech about boycotting farm-raised fish. You could conduct a short attitudinal survey to discover what your audience thinks about the topic, if they eat farm-raised fish, and if they believe it is healthy for them. This information will help you when you construct your speech because you will know their attitudes about the subject. You would be able to avoid constructing a speech that potentially could do the opposite of what you intended.

Another example would be that you want to deliver an informative speech about your town’s recreational activities and facilities. Your focus can be aligned with your audience if, before you begin working on your speech, you find out if your audience has senior citizens and/or high school students and/or new parents.

Clearly this cannot be done in every speaking situation, however. Often, we are required to give an  unacquainted-audience presentation . Unacquainted-audience presentations are speeches when you are completely unfamiliar with the audience and its demographics. In these cases, it is always best to try and find some time to sit down and talk with someone you trust (or even several people) who might be familiar with the given audience. These conversations can be very constructive in helping you understand the context in which you will be speaking.

Not understanding the basic demographic characteristics of an audience, or further, that audience’s beliefs, values, or attitudes about a given topic makes your presentation goals haphazard, at best. Look around the room at the people who will be listening to your speech. What types of gender, age, ethnicity, and educational- level characteristics are represented? What are their expectations for your presentation? This is all-important information you should know before you begin your research and drafting your outline. Who is it that I am going to be talking to?

If we knew what it was we were doing, it would not be called research, would it? – Albert Einstein

Audience analysis by inference is merely a logical extension of your observations drawn in the method above. It is a form of critical thinking known as inductive reasoning, and another form of qualitative data gathering. An inference is when you make a reasoned tentative conclusion or logical judgment on the basis of available evidence. It is best used when you can identify patterns in your evidence that indicate something is expected to happen again or should hold true based upon previous experiences. A good speaker knows how to interpret information and draw conclusions from that information. As individuals we make inferences—or reasonable assumptions—all the time. For example, when we hear someone speaking Arabic, we infer that they are from the Middle East. When we see this person carrying a copy of The Koran, we infer that they are also a follower of the Muslim faith. These are reasoned conclusions that we make based upon the evidence available to us and our general knowledge about people and their traits.

When we reason, we make connections, distinctions, and predictions; we use what is known or familiar to us to reach a conclusion about something that is unknown or unfamiliar for it to make sense. Granted, of course, inferences are sometimes wrong. Here’s a familiar example: You reach into a jar full of jelly beans, and they turn out to be all black. You love black jelly beans. You reach back into the jar and take another hand full, which turn out to be, again, all black. Since you can’t see the jelly beans inside the jar you make an assumption based on empirical evidence (two handfuls of jelly beans) that all of the jelly beans are black. You reach into the jar a third time and take a hand full of jelly beans out, but this time they aren’t any black jelly beans, but white, pink, and yellow. Your conclusion that all of the jelly beans were black turned out to be fallacious.

Data Sampling

“Here’s a Jellybean for You”  by KaCey97078.  CC-BY .

Unlike audience analysis by direct observation and analysis by inference, audience analysis by data sampling uses statistical evidence to quantify and clarify the characteristics of your audience. These characteristics are also known as variable s , [19] and are assigned a numerical value so we can systematically collect and classify them. They are reported as statistics, also known as quantitative analysis or quantitative data collection. Statistics are numerical summaries of facts, figures, and research findings. Audience analysis by data sampling requires you to survey your audience before you give your speech. You need to know the basics of doing a survey before you actually collect and interpret your data.

If you make listening and observation your occupation, you will gain much more than you can by talk. – Robert Baden-Powell

Basic Questionnaire

There are a great number of survey methods available to the speaker. However, we will cover three primary question types within the basic questionnaire because they are utilized the most. The basic questionnaire is a series of questions advanced to produce demographic and attitudinal data from your audience.

“Man With a Clipboard”  by Elizabeth M.  CC-BY .

Clearly, audience members should not be required to identify themselves by name on the basic questionnaire. Anonymous questionnaires are more likely to produce truthful information. Remember, all you are looking for is a general read of your audience; you should not be looking for specific information about any respondent concerning your questionnaire in particular. It is a bulk sampling tool, only.

While you can easily gather basic demographic data (examples of demographic questions are shown in the chart following this section), we need to adjust our questions a bit more tightly, or ask more focused questions, in order to understand the audience’s “predispositions” to think or act in certain ways. For example, you can put an attitudinal extension on the basic questionnaire (examples of attitudinal questions are shown in Figure 6.1).

These questions probe more deeply into the psyche of your audience members and will help you see where they stand on certain issues. Of course, you may need to tighten these questions to get to the heart of your specific topic. But, once you do, you’ll have a wealth of data at your disposal that, ultimately, will tell you how to work with your target audience.

Likert-type Testing

The final method of ascertaining audience attitudes deals with Likert-type testing. Likert-type testing is when you make a statement and ask the respondent to gauge the depth of their sentiments toward that statement either positively, negatively, or neutrally. Typically, each scale will have 5 weighted response categories, being +2, +1, 0, -1, and -2. What the Likert-type test does, that other tests do not do, is measure the extent to which attitudes are held. See how the Likert-type test does this in the example on “unsolicited email” in Figure 6.1.

A small Likert-type test will tell you where your audience, generally speaking, stands on issues. As well, it will inform you as to the degree of the audience’s beliefs on these issues. The Likert-type test should be used when attempting to assess a highly charged or polarizing issue, because it will tell you, in rough numbers, whether or not your audience agrees or disagrees with your topic.

No matter what kind of data sampling you choose, you need to allow time to collect the information and then analyze it. For example, if you create a survey of five questions, and you have your audience of 20 people complete the survey, you will need to deal with 100 survey forms. At high levels such as political polling, the audience members quickly click on their answers on a webpage or on a hand-held “clicker,” and the specific survey software instantly collects and collates the information for researchers. If you are in a small community group or college class, it is more likely that you will be doing your survey “the old-fashioned way”–so you will need some time to mark each individual response on a “master sheet” and then average or summarize the results in an effective way to use in your speechwriting and speech-giving.

• Dwyer, K.K. (2005)  Conquer your speech anxiety:  Second Edition. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.  ↵
• Clevenger, T. (1966).  Audience analysis . Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill.  ↵
• Caernarven-Smith, P. (1983).  Audience analysis & response  (1st Ed.). Pembroke, MA: Firman Technical Publications.  ↵
• McQuail, D. (1997).  Audience analysis . Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.  ↵
• Natalle, E.J. & Bodenheimer, F.R. (2004)  The woman’s public speaking handbook.  Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.  ↵
• Pearson, J.C., Nelson, P.E., Titsworth, S. & Harter, L. (2011).  Human communication  (4th Ed.). Boston: McGraw-Hill.  ↵
• Gamble, T.K. & Gamble, M. (2013).  Communication works . New York: McGrawHill.  ↵
• Eisenberg, I. & Wynn, D. (2013)  Think communication . Boston: Pearson.  ↵
• Gamble & Gamble 2013  ↵
• Campbell, K.K. & Huxman, S.S.  The Rhetorical Act: Thinking, Speaking, and Writing Critically  (3rd Ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.  ↵
• Jastrow, J. (1918). The psychology of conviction: A study of beliefs and attitudes. New York: Houghton Mifflin.  ↵
• Bem, D. J. (1970).  Beliefs, attitudes, and human affairs.  Belmont, CA: Brooks/Cole Pub. Co.  ↵
• Rokeach, M. (1968).  Beliefs, attitudes, and values; a theory of organization and change  (1st ed.). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.  ↵
• Ting-Toomey. S & Chung, L.C. (2005).  Understanding intercultural communication.  Los Angeles: Roxbury Publishing.  ↵
• Klopf, D.W. & Cambra, R.E. (1991)  Speaking skills for prospective teachers  (2nd Ed.). Englewood, CO: Morton Publishing Company. Tauber, R.T. & Mester, C.S.  Acting Lessons for Teachers, Using Performance Skills in the Classroom.  Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers.  ↵
• Pressat, R. (1972).  Demographic analysis; methods, results, applications . Chicago: Aldine-Atherton.  ↵
• Nierenberg, G.I. & Calero, H.H. (1994)  How to read a person like a book . New York: Barnes and Noble Books.  ↵
• Tucker, K.T.; Weaver, II, R.L.; Berryman-Fink, C. (1981).  Research in speech communication . Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Prentice-Hall.  ↵
• https://www.pexels.com/photo/man-standing-in-front-of-people-1709003/

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How to Handle Public Speaking in a Multicultural World

Speak the Language, Speak the Culture

By: Sonja Bonin

Perhaps you live abroad, or your home club might have members who aren’t native speakers, or maybe you’ve signed up for a club specifically to practice your second or third language.

You are reading this article in English, but statistically, there’s a two-to-one chance that English is not your first language. In a globalized world where many of us are communicating and collaborating across borders and cultures, proficiency in a second language can be a stepping-stone in your career and can open many doors while traveling. Bilinguals have also proven to be better in social and cognitive tasks, showing greater empathy, recovering more quickly from brain injury, and staving off dementia significantly longer than monolinguals.

Still, besides all the fun and benefits, speaking in a non-native language can be intimidating, especially when you are just starting out. So I asked some proficient public speakers for advice.

Take the leap.

For many speakers, going from speaking a non-native language conversationally to giving a whole speech can feel quite daunting. “It seems like so much more effort,” says Selina Man Karlsson of International Lunchtime Toastmastersin Switzerland. She can manage Table Topics®, she says, however, when putting together a speech, there are many more pieces to the puzzle. “But I know that once I accomplish it, it will feel like a personal victory.”

To ease into it, she suggests you recycle an idea or translate a speech you’ve given before, in order to feel more confident. And perhaps you can find a mentor who speaks both languages. Most importantly, Man Karlsson says, because Toastmasters is such a safe and supportive environment, it’s the perfect training ground.

Public speaking as a mental workout.

Another happy multilingual is Beatriz Macedo of Oporto Toastmasters Club in Porto, Portugal. “I love learning languages,” she says. “It’s like a gym for the brain, something challenging that keeps me on top of my mental capacities.” Beside her native Portuguese, Macedo is fluent in English, Spanish, French, and Italian. She is also learning German and Mandarin Chinese. The former was a practical decision because German might benefit her career as a metallurgical engineer for a German company. She says she chose to learn Chinese precisely because it is so different from English and the Romance languages she already speaks.

Macedo uses Toastmasters speech contests to practice languages she doesn’t speak frequently, and she’s won contests at the District level in English and Italian. “I think the audience is a bit more forgiving with a non-native speaker,” she says. “But you definitely have to prepare much longer and better than in your first language.”

Immerse yourself in your target language.

When Macedo plans a speech in one of her non-native languages, she prepares much more thoroughly than she would otherwise. “You want to get to a place where you aren’t translating what you want to say but thinking in the foreign language.” She starts the process by jogging her memory.

“I switch to reading in my target language every day, watching movies and the news in it, and talking to native speakers.”

She looks up words, synonyms, and even whole phrases, and discusses the usage of certain expressions or metaphors in online forums. She recommends listening to native speakers talk, for instance on YouTube, to help with pronunciation. “I immerse myself in my target language before I start writing my speech. That way, I will not translate it, but write it in my target language.”

Next, the preparation. “In my more fluent languages, I usually jot down some bullet points and rehearse in a more improvisational style, almost like Table Topics—just 10 Table Topics in a row,” she says. In her less fluent languages, she memorizes more, because it’s not as easy to find a quick workaround if you forget a word or jumble up a sentence. “If I’m speaking in front of a Portuguese audience, I might be able to cheat a little and simply inject a word or two in Portuguese. But with a mixed audience or abroad, that won’t work.”

Consider culture.

You must take into account that your audience, even if you’re speaking the same language, might differ in cultural background. For instance, Macedo believes that speakers of Romance languages gesture more and are more lively in tone than Northern Europeans. On the other hand, there are subtle differences from language to language too. So, when she prepares a speech in Italian, she says she needs to memorize and rehearse the respective gestures alongside the words of her speech.

The further you get from your native culture, the more pronounced the differences. Macedo experienced this first-hand when she spent time living in South Korea.

“When I talk about school milk, every Portuguese of my generation will share the same memory. The South Koreans were flabbergasted that I would want to drink milk every day!”

Another example: What is “a piece of cake” (meaning: super easy) for English speakers is “chicken soup” for the Portuguese. And a joke or a wink can work well in one culture but feel inappropriate in another .

It’s, therefore, a good idea to double-check your speech for culture-specific metaphors, examples, or expressions and give it a test run with a member of your target audience. Is your message clear and easy to grasp? Does what you say and how you say it contributes to your message or distract from it?

If you present to varying audiences, you may want to adjust your speech for each audience . For instance, a baseball reference works fine in the U.S., but in German-speaking countries, soccer is the port that most people are familiar with. “Speaking the language is not enough. You have to speak the culture too,” says Macedo. “It’s like the seasoning for a dish. If you use nutmeg instead of cinnamon, it won’t taste so good.”

Talking to a non-native audience.

On the flip side, it is not that easy for native speakers either!

Talking to a non-native audience can be tricky, especially for native English speakers. Since English has become such a widespread lingua franca, it’s easy to neglect cultural sensitivities. You are also prone to forget that processing a foreign language is always a bit more difficult than listening to your mother tongue, no matter how fluent you are.

“Most native English speakers think they are communicating, where in fact, they aren’t,” says John Zimmer, a professional speaker and speaking coach from Canada who has worked for the United Nations and has been living in the French-speaking part of Switzerland for more than 20 years. His experience has taught him to speak “a different English” when he’s talking to non-native speakers.

“Back in Canada, I speak faster, and I use more slang and colloquialisms; I also allow for fewer pauses.” Here are some of his tips for English speakers talking to a non-native audience:

• Talk slowly, enunciate well, and use more pauses.
• Avoid jargon, filler words (such as“like” or “actually”), and colloquialisms (“We’d’ve come” is far more difficult to process than “We would have come”; don’t say “we need to up our game”—instead, say “we need to improve.”).
• Beware of phrasal verbs, where the meaning is different than the combined meanings of the individual words, such as “I’ll see to it” or “he turned me down.”
• Use the active voice over the passive voice and the affirmative over the negative (say “often” instead of “not uncommon”).
• Use short words and short sentences and avoid unnecessary flourishes. Zimmer’s recommendation is “Value clarity over creativity.”

Luckily, all these rules serve any speaker well under any circumstances. And “taking your non-native audience into consideration will force you to think more rigorously about your message and how to express it,” Zimmer says.

Whether you speak in a foreign language or speak your first language to an audience of non-native speakers, the challenge will enhance your performance as a public speaker in the long run. Just remember: Think the language, speak the culture, and put some extra effort into your preparation. You’ll earn even more credibility as a citizen of the world.

If you’ve ever had trouble connecting with a diverse audience or communicating with people outside your usual crowd, join us on Friday, June 3rd on Zoom . Special guest speaker, Carol Weisman, will share tips she’s learned the hard way when speaking with a diverse audience.

Register now

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Table Of Contents

• About the author(s)
• About the book
• This eBook can be cited
• Preface: Toward a Better World

Bibliography

• Part One: Overview
• 1 Keeping the Public Sphere(s) Public
• A Son of Kansas Populism
• The Cultural Studies Approach in Britain and the United States
• People Must Shape the Flow of Information in the Public Sphere
• The Public in Development: Not the State But Indigenous Grassroots Initiatives
• The Political Economy Perspective
• The Public Sphere as the Space of Autonomy for Affirming Identity
• The Ecological Interrelatedness of Our Mediated Cultural Environment
• Reforming the Bankrupt Political Philosophy and Communication Ethics of Special Interest Democracy
• Alliance of Communication Researchers with Popular Classes Widens the Public Sphere
• Making Communication Theory a Dialogue
• Summing Up: Keeping the Public Sphere Public
• Part Two: General Theoretical Conditions
• 2 Talking Communicatively About Mass Communication in Communication Theories: Beyond Multiplicity, Toward Communicating
• Mass Communication Theories: In the Beginning
• More Than Misunderstanding, Less Than War: “Critical” Versus “Administrative” Theories
• Reframing the Debates: The (Im)Possibility of Interdisciplinary Dialogue
• An Example of Communicative Boundary Bridging
• Toward Public Presence and Utility
• 3 Social Scientific Theory of Communication Encounters Normativity: A Personal Memoir
• Early Beginnings
• Early Experience in the Field
• Further Emergence of the Communication Research Field
• History Takes a Hand
• Back to the Personal
• Change in the Wind
• Theoretical Deficit in Review
• Normative Theory to the Rescue
• Bringing Together the Strands
• 4 Understanding the Critical Political Economy of the Media
• Historical and Theoretical Foundations
• Historical Development and Definitions
• Debates and Variations
• Major Themes and Exemplars
• Relationships with Other Approaches
• 5 Power, Inequality, and Citizenship: The Enduring Importance of the Political Economy of Communications
• Studying Media and Communications: An Enduring Essential for Social Analysis
• Power: Of the Media and In the Media
• Inequality: The Reproduction of Division
• Power and Inequality in the Information Society
• 6 Cultural Studies: Dialogue, Continuity, and Change
• Three Key Texts
• Refinement and Debate
• Shifting from Its Beginnings
• Internationalizing Cultural Studies
• 7 A Mutually Radicalizing Relationship: Communication Theory and Cultural Studies in the United States
• The View from Livermore Labs: Positivism and Communication Research in 1969
• Rediscovering America: New Sources for Communication Thought After Positivism
• The Party Flourishes: Communication Theory Under the Influence of American Cultural Studies
• The Morning After: Three Reviews of the Current State of Cultural Studies
• The “Undiscipline” of Cultural Studies: Intellectual Formation and Institutional Reality
• The “Detour” Through Theory: Critical Practice and Professional Culture
• The “Phantom Limb” of Politics: Re-set and Realism
• A Radical Modesty: Or What Cultural Studies Can Learn from Communications
• 8 Thinking Communication in Latin America
• The 1960s–1970s: Constructing the Field of Study
• The 1980s–1990s: Investigating Communication in Cultural Terms
• At the Turn of the Century: Globalization and the Technocultural Transformation of Communication
• 9 Toward a Theory of African Communication
• In Search of a Research Tradition
• Interplay Between Culture and Communication
• African Cultures as a Template of African Communication
• The Nature of Communication in Communalistic Cultures of Africa
• 10 Theorizing About Communication in India: Sadharanikaran, Rasa, and Other Traditions in Rhetoric and Aesthetics
• Indian Traditions in Public Communication
• Early Indian Reflections on Communication
• The Rasa Theory of Communication
• Language and the Sphota Theory of Meaning
• Sadharanikaran Theory of Communication
• Conclusion: Diversity in Indian Communication Theory
• Part Three: Thematic Approaches
• 11 Voice, Citizenship, and Civic Action: Challenges to Participatory Communication
• Participatory Communication: New Contexts, Stakeholders, and Dynamics
• Citizenship and Citizen Media
• Post-neoliberal Politics and the “New Technologies of Voice”
• The NGO-ification of Development and Politics
• Participatory Communication in the Post-Arab Spring Era
• 12 Media, Culture, and the Imagination of Religion
• Religion Emerging on the Agenda
• A Definitive Scholarly Voice: CRT
• A Legacy: The ISMRC
• Bibliograpy
• 13 Theorizing Development, Communication, and Social Change
• An Impasse in Theorizing Development Communication
• The Critique of Participation
• The Basis for a Theory of Communication and Social Change
• Theory Building from Below: The Right to Information Movement in India
• Theorizing Voice
• Validating Theory from Below: The Jan Sunwai and Empowerment
• Conclusion: Fragments of Theory
• 14 Human Rights and Communication: Reflections on a Challenging Relationship
• The Beginning of a Relationship
• Communication Rights
• From a Right to Free Speech to a Right to Communicate
• The WSIS and Human Rights
• On Human Rights as Normative Theory
• Post-colonial Cosmopolitanism
• The Illustration of Internet Governance
• Abstractions Versus Realities
• Culture of Fear
• Towards a Participatory Human Rights Regime
• 15 Struggle, Vatican II, and Development Communication Practice
• Vatican II: The Origins of Social Communication
• Anachronistic Church Attitudes to the Media
• Vatican II, Communication for Social Justice
• Jesús Martin-Barbero and the Latin American Theology of Liberation
• Shifting Spaces
• 16 Media Ecology
• Antecedents and People Shaping Media Ecology
• Relationship with Broader Issues and Challenges
• 17 Journalism, Multiculturalism, and the Struggle for Solidarity
• The Claims of Multiculturalism
• Journalism and Multiculturalism
• Journalism Ethics in a Multicultural Society
• 18 Media Ethics in Transnational, Gender Inclusive, and Multicultural Terms
• Dialogic Ethics
• Social Justice
• Contributors

Toward a Better World

Kaarle nordenstreng.

T he intellectual history of this book has two roots: one general and one particular. The general leads us to view the field of communication research on a global scale and critically assess the Western domination of academic traditions (see Curran & Park, 2000; Thussu, 2009). The particular leads us to see individual scholars as carriers and change agents of research traditions. The two roots meet in the life story of Robert A. White, to whom this volume is dedicated.

Unlike usual Festschrifts, this book is done with active cooperation of the person in question. Bob’s chapter 1 provides a self-made profile of the “son of Kansas populism” whose life journey took him through the international Jesuit community to academic centers of formative importance. Moreover, his chapter provides an overview of the book’s essays that not only present communication theories in a multicultural world but also tell about life stories of several landmark scholars of the field. Accordingly, subjective narratives of individual scholars make a fascinating mix with objective development of communication research.

The general rationale of this volume takes us back to the reflections that followed the radical shift of research priorities in the 1970s (see Nordenstreng, 2004). A strategic element of these reflections was the question of textbooks used in the rapidly expanding field of journalism and mass communication. And a significant attempt to tackle this question was the textbook project of the International Association for Mass Communication Research (IAMCR), which serves as an essential background for this book. The following passage gives an account ← ix | x → of the project based on an earlier report by the present author and the late Michael Traber, at the time research director of the World Association for Christian Communication (WACC) and editor of its journal Development Communication (Nordenstreng & Traber, 1991).

Journalism and mass communication is a relatively young area of study with a rapidly evolving body of knowledge (see Nordenstreng, 2011). The literature of the field is far from established, especially in languages other than English. The predominance of English language literature reflects the fact that the field was first introduced and is quantitatively most developed in the United States. Accordingly, in light of the general state of the art, it is obvious that Anglo-Saxon textbooks dominate. Likewise, it is obvious that part and parcel of the promotion of this field in any country is to bring about textbooks rooted in the national and regional realities.

In this respect the question of textbooks in communication education can be seen as an issue of cultural emancipation as understood in the debate around the New World Information and Communication Order (NWICO; see Nordenstreng, 2013). At the same time the textbook problem represents another element of this new order: the need for a better awareness of the cultural and socio-political diversity of the world, whereby communicators should be educated not only to share a national perspective but to pay due attention also to other peoples and ultimately to the international community at large. Thus, national and universal interests complement each other.

The first international forum that raised the issue of communication textbooks in such a global context was the IAMCR, which, at its meeting in Paris in 1982, drew attention to the lack of adequate textbooks for journalism education in Africa and other parts of the developing world. It was an open call for communication educators throughout the world to review various traditions and doctrines of professionalism and to promote textbook materials in line with the aspirations of NWICO. Actually soon after that, UNESCO held a meeting of experts on cooperation among regional communication training institutions and recommended that textbooks relevant to regional and national needs be produced and published, and “where such textbooks and manuals are already in existence, efforts should be made to disseminate them to other regions with a view to adapting these publications to suit local needs.”

These initiatives led to a workshop on the textbook problem by the IAMCR Professional Education Section in Prague in 1984 and two years later to a UNESCO-supported project on the promotion of textbooks for the training of journalists in Anglophone Africa, with extension to the Caribbean and Asia. This was followed by the African Council for Communication Education (ACCE), with support of the Swedish International Development Authority (SIDA), to prepare and evaluate a number of trial adaptations and new materials. ← x | xi →

By the late 1980s there was a growing recognition of the need for more systematic interregional contact and cooperation—in communication education in general and textbook promotion in particular. To this effect the IAMCR prepared in 1988 an interregional project for the funding from UNESCO’s International Programme for the Development of Communication (IPDC). Those involved in the deliberations about the new project were relevant regional organizations in Africa (ACCE), Asia (AMIC), and Latin America (FELAFACS), as well as two European-based world associations: WACC and the International Organization of Journalists (IOJ).

Thus, the project proceeded to Phase II as a joint venture between several non-governmental organizations and institutions, with the IAMCR playing the role of catalyst and coordinator. Three distinguished professors were appointed by the IAMCR to serve as the project’s monitoring committee: Josiane Jouët (Paris), Manuel Parés i Maicas (Barcelona), and Robert White (Rome).

The motivation and objectives of the textbook project were summarized in its final report as follows:

While it was common knowledge that journalism and mass communication were fields with American domination, we wanted to know in detail how this domination manifested itself in different regions and across various topics. In other words, the disease was known, but there was a need for a proper diagnosis in order to identify the effective treatment. Thus from the beginning our textbook study was an action-orientated project to bring about change.

Specifically, we wanted to identify where and how to promote more socio-economically and culturally relevant educational materials, particularly textbooks in each region. Moreover, we wanted to promote South-South cooperation and to see whether something could be done by putting existing textbooks from other regions at the disposal of those who were under Western and Northern dominance. And this drive for Third World emancipation was far from a uniform, “totalitarian” approach painted by the opponents of NWICO in their propaganda in the 1980s. It was rather an ecumenical drive towards pluralism and global diversity in the sense of the MacBride Report. (Nordenstreng, Brown, & Traber, 1998)

The project was completed in 1998—after further funding from the Finnish Development Assistance Agency (FINNIDA)—with extensive regional surveys and several reports. Its central conclusions were as follows:

It is clear from the survey that the need to publish local textbooks with a regional orientation is very strong. While textbooks rooted in the local context are very important, the aim should not be to exclude all foreign books completely. It should be recognized that some communication approaches are universal and cannot be pinned down to any particular region. There will, therefore, be a need to have certain inter-regional textbooks. But for those materials that need localizing, some of which this study has identified, every effort should be made to encourage the writing and publishing of local textbooks. ← xi | xii →

Finally, this survey shows the urgency of theoretical work in the area of communication and culture. What are the paradigms of basic models of communication processes in, say, the Arab world or Africa or Asia? A critical mass needs to be developed, consisting of interdisciplinary studies, particularly from the field of anthropology, social psychology and culturally relevant epistemology. It is only on the basis of new theoretical insights on the relationship between culture and communication that significant progress in educational materials for communication studies can be made.

However, a start has been made, and the process so far has been very encouraging. It not only created awareness of the situation, in most cases dismal, but actually prompted institutions and individual researchers to develop plans for the creation of new manuscripts. In addition, it has brought together communication educators and researchers from most regions of the South. These contacts have laid the foundation for South-South cooperation in what have been, hitherto, uncharted waters.

After completing Phase II of the project, and gaining seven years of additional experience, we recognize that all this and more still needs to be done. However, the project has helped to make a start. We can proudly point to the fact that a new cross-cultural text, Communication Ethics and Universal Values (Christians & Traber, 1997), resulted from regional seminars organized by WACC, and as a response to the textbook project. We can also refer to two global textbooks which were initiated by the project and which will soon be completed—one on environmental reporting and another on multicultural theories.…

However, despite these examples and many optimistic plans, the main problems have not yet been solved. One may even say that on a global scale there has not been real follow-up nor implementations—though the diagnosis is complete, the patient still awaits treatment. Such a gloomy conclusion is inescapable considering the enormous growth of media research and publishing in Europe and the USA, especially on the information society and other policy issues of the North. (Nordenstreng, Brown, & Traber, 1998)

Accordingly, the first blueprint for the present book grew out of the textbook project in the mid-1990s, and it was expected to be edited by Aggrey Brown (for Latin America and the Caribbean), Anura Goonasekera (for Asia), and Michael Traber (for Africa). However, the materialization was slow and was finally suspended by the demise of the editors.

Meanwhile, the rationale did not fade away. On the contrary, globalization in the new millennium made it ever more topical. In 2009 Cliff Christians, Bob White, and the present author discussed the matter under a tree at St. Augustine University of Tanzania and decided to move ahead with the added impetus of honoring Bob’s lifelong contribution to the cause of communication theories in a multicultural world. The title is born out of the realization that most original and significant theoretical development is stimulated by attempts to challenge the structures of power, injustice, and de-humanization. Though not a textbook as envisioned by the IAMCR, this volume fulfills its goal of advancing the field by cultivating theory on a worldwide scale.

While the book draws on an understanding of communication theory as a product of its socio-political and cultural context, and the challenges posed by ← xii | xiii → that context, it also highlights each author’s lifetime effort to both critique the existing trends in communication theory and bring out the very best in each cultural context. The selection of authors and their angles can naturally provide just a small sample of multiculturalism. Thus, the book demonstrates the richness of variety in terms of regions and topics rather than a full panorama of the world. In this respect it joins the row of contemporary contributions, such as De-Westernizing Communication Research , put together by Georgette Wang (2011).

On the other hand, the book does not suggest multiculturalism to be an easy solution to get rid of the ethnocentric burdens of the past. As Raka Shome (2012) has pointed out, the multiple drives away from modernities in Asia and elsewhere are vulnerable to superficial scholarship—also in cultural studies. Therefore, multiculturalism is invited to build on the solid grounds of the postcolonial tradition. In this sense the book has a humble approach to the way we study the world. At the same time it has a straight normative approach in that it wishes to promote a better world.

Christians, C., & M. Traber. (Eds.). (1997). Communication Ethics and Universal Values . Thousand Oaks/London/Delhi: Sage.

Curran, J., & M.-J. Park. (Eds.). (2000). De-Westernizing Media Studies . London: Routledge.

Nordenstreng, K. (2004). “Ferment in the Field of Communication Studies.” Javnost—The Public , 11(3), 5–18. Available at http://javnost-thepublic.org/article/pdf/2004/3/1/

Nordenstreng, K. (2011). “Lost in Abundance? Reflections on Disciplinarity.” In B. Zelizer (Ed.), Making the University Matter (pp. 194–205). Milton Park, UK, & New York: Routledge.

Nordenstreng, K. (2013). “The New World Information and Communication Order: An Idea That Refuses to Die.” In J. Nerone (Ed.), Media History and the Foundations of Media Studies . (pp. 477–99). Chichester, West Sussex, UK: Wiley-Blackwell. Vol. 1, The International Encyclopedia of Media Studies .

Nordenstreng, K., A. Brown, & M. Traber. (1998). “Overview.” In K. Nordenstreng (Ed.), Inventory of Textbooks in Communication Studies Around the World . Tampere, Finland: University of Tampere, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Reports C 26/1998. Online http://www.uta.fi/cmt/textbooks/ Also in Javnost—The Public , 5(1), 79–89. Available at http://javnost-thepublic.org/article/pdf/1998/1/5/

Nordenstreng, K., & M. Traber. (Eds.). (1991). Promotion of Educational Materials for Communication Studies: Report of Phase I of a UNESCO/IPDC Interregional Project by IAMCR/AIERI . Tampere, Finland: University of Tampere, Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, Reports B 34/1991. Available at http://www.uta.fi/cmt/textbooks/

Shome, R. (2012). “Mapping the Limits of Multiculturalism in the Context of Globalization.” International Journal of Communication , 6, 144–165. Available at http://www.ijoc.org/

Thussu, D. (Ed.). (2009). Internationalizing Media Studies . New York: Routledge.

Wang, G. (Ed.). (2011). De-Westernizing Communication Research. Altering Questions and Changing Frameworks . London & New York: Routledge. ← xiii | xiv → ← xiv | 1 →

← 1 | 2 → ← 2 | 3 →

CHAPTER ONE

Keeping the public sphere(s) public, robert a. white.

V irtually all of the contributors to this volume, in presenting a theoretical stance, have also told something of their personal life journey. At some point all have taken a strong value stand. I have always been grateful for the events that took me out of the functionalist sociology of the 1950s and into an area of the field of communication that demanded a value stand. The sociology of the 1940s, 1950s, and into the 1960s was struggling to get legitimacy in universities and had to declare its allegiance to the value-free objective scientific orthodoxy of the time. Talcott Parson’s functionalism, presenting social systems as self-adapting with no human or social intervention, seemed to fit the demands of a value-free, naturalistic science. This theoretical stance, I am increasingly convinced, isolated functionalist sociology from professional and societal significance—even from a social engineering perspective. It took a new generation of social theorists, such as Anthony Giddens, to open sociological theory to the objectives of societal construction.

Communication sciences, on the other hand, grew out of the realization that newspapers and public speaking were important for giving the public more control over elected political leaders and to provide the upwardly mobile working and middle classes the information they needed about socio-economic opportunities (Dicken-Garcia, 1989; Marzolf, 1991). Denis McQuail, in his essay in this volume, sums up the centrality of the normative in the field of communication, with telling insight: “It is tempting to suppose that what has saved the ‘field’ from ← 3 | 4 → evolutionary extinction has been precisely its openness to reliance on normative impulses of a compelling kind.” The chapter by McQuail is a notable analysis of the role of the normative in the development of the field of communication. Historically, the contrast of the demands placed on the press and the continued irresponsibility of the press led the Pulitzers and other reformers to look for ways to build social responsibility into the media. The solution that began in America and then spread around the world was to provide professional training for journalists and other communication roles. The goal of pioneers such as Walter Williams, who founded the first journalism school at the University of Missouri, was to build into job-oriented training the ideal of opening and expanding the democratic public sphere (Marzolf, 1991, pp. 55–56). As universities around the world have introduced professional communication degree programs, the theory-building process has also grown with advanced degrees, academic associations, research programs, and publications. With this has come a progressively clearer idea of the relation of how the media contribute to building and strengthening the public sphere.

Ironically and interestingly, the theoretical perspectives that have developed in the global south—Latin America, Africa, and Asia—and in the post–World War II social movements in Europe have returned to the United States to help restore the sense of the public in American media. This, the contributors to this volume, speaking from their own cultural experiences, have pointed out well.

The central idea of the public sphere, I would argue, is precisely that it is public. It is (1) open to all to speak their opinion, information, objections, and rhetorical arguments regardless of their social status, education, communication skills, rightness or wrongness, or any other form of communicative power. This is the significance of the thinking of authors such as Clemencia Rodriguez (2001, 2011) in affirming the importance of citizen media, the direct entry into the public sphere to exercise the right to communicate. (2) No part of the public sphere can be private property excluding the views of others. Private media must be subordinate to the public good (Curran, 1991). The rules that govern the public sphere must be set and applied by participatory, democratic processes that allow all the citizenry to govern the public sphere. The democratization of communication means precisely that all citizens participate in its governance. (3) It is dialogical in that it is constituted by interchange in which all are listening to what pertains to them, are challenged, and must respond (Cissna & Anderson, 1994). (4) The language of the public sphere is understandable to all who are part of the culture. Specialist languages at some point must be put into the popular culture language. (5) The public sphere must be based on a common normative discourse and common theoretical discourse of democratic governance. The powerful and the powerless must share a common language and set of values, otherwise there can be no basis for debate about power allocation. (6) The public sphere is contestable ← 4 | 5 → with every proposal being challenged, in terms of its validity, to the rest of the public. The public sphere, as Habermas would argue, must withstand the test of “rationality,” namely, that the proposal supports the common good.

But why is keeping the public sphere public so important? Every reader could think of a reason. I would start with the defense of our humanity. We are born with the capacity for humanity, but it is only through communication with those around us that we become human, and the richer the communication environment the more our humanity is likely to develop. We are communitarian in that we cannot survive outside of community. The dialogical dimension brings in a communication that enables every person to take possession of one’s identity and become truly creative in building our human cultures. The public-ness challenges each person to open our identities to social and physical environments to build a deeper integrating relationship with the environment. The life of the public sphere cultivates a respect and reverence for the community as a whole, in the lives of all members of the community and in the universe of existence of which we are a part.

Keeping the public sphere public is, of course, a struggle. The old distinction between administrative and critical research is one pointer to this fact. But underlying this is the perception that the tendency toward the concentration of power in the public sphere is continual and continually fabricates its own ideological reasons as to why monopoly is the best way to achieve the common good. The contributors to this volume have a wide variety of interests, but I would suggest that a common denominator is that each has invented or developed an insight into the public sphere that, on the one hand, reveals the falsity of the monopoly argument and, on the other hand, invents a new way of understanding and defending how to keep the public sphere public.

When the editors proposed that this collection of essays might be in some way a recognition of my own efforts, my immediate response was to protest the thinness of my own bibliographical record, as Michael Real notes with congeniality in his essay. My second thought was that this is a “we” book. That is, these chapters represent a common effort toward an ideal, and I would like to argue that this common effort is best summed up as “keeping the public sphere truly public.” My own efforts have been more as “convener,” “editor,” “facilitator,” and “moderator.” Some of the contributors have been part of a broader school of thought, but all, individually or as part of a larger group, have made significant contributions to our contemporary thinking on how to keep the public sphere public. I see my own description of the public sphere above as only an opener. What I would like to do in this chapter is to reflect on the contribution of each of the authors to the way we can think of the role of communication in defending the public-ness of the public sphere. ← 5 | 6 →

Biographical notes

Clifford G. Christians (Volume editor) Kaarle Nordenstreng (Volume editor)

Clifford Christians is Research Professor of Communications and Professor of Journalism Emeritus at the University of Illinois-Urbana. Kaarle Nordenstreng is Professor Emeritus of Journalism and Mass Communication at the University of Tampere, Finland.

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Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition

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This competition encourages primary school students to explore ideas of multiculturalism in Australia while they practise their public speaking skills and improve their confidence.

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Entries in the 2024 Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition have now clsoed, and we're working on the draws for the local finals, which will run in the last 4 weeks of Term 2. We'll notify teachers of the date and venue we've assigned them to as soon as possible. You can read more about how things work below, and you can also access that information as a PDF by downloading the  2024 Multicultural Perspectives Information Guide (PDF 674.12 KB)

Competition information

Welcome to the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition! For 29 years this competition has been encouraging primary school students to explore multiculturalism in Australia while they practise their public speaking skills and improve their confidence. Every year around 2,000 students are chosen to represent their schools in the local finals, which in 2024 will again be running live and face-to-face all around the state (though there will of course be the option to compete online if the nearest final is too far away or your students have a date clash). Best of luck to everyone – we can’t wait to hear your ideas!

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What are the rules of the competition, additional support for students, what are the adjudicators looking for, how does the competition run, what are the prizes, who are the organisers of the competition.

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The Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition is open to all NSW government primary schools. The competition has two different age divisions – one for Years 3 and 4 students and one for Years 5 and 6 students. Schools can enter up to two contestants in each of the age divisions, totalling four contestants overall.

You can enter the competition using the red button above. Entries should be submitted before the close of business on Friday 22 March 2024. Please ensure that you include contact details for the teacher who will be looking after the entry.

The entry fee for the competition is $25.00 per contestant, which means a maximum of $100.00 per school. Schools will automatically be debited for this amount once they submit their entry form. Please advise your school’s finance department that this will occur, and note that fees are due on entry and can’t be refunded even where students subsequently withdraw.

What are the 2024 prepared speech topics?

At each stage of the competition, contestants present both a prepared speech and an impromptu speech. For their prepared speech, contestants must choose a topic from the list at the bottom of the next page. The prepared speech must convey a multicultural message. The impromptu speech topic will be on a general, non-multicultural theme, and contestants will have 5 minutes to write their impromptu speeches, starting with only blank palm cards and paper. The speaking times are outlined below. Note that speakers are expected to finish at or just beyond the official, speaking time, and it will be considered poor timing to reach the continuous bell.

Other than the entry rules and speaking times detailed above, it should also be noted that contestants are not allowed to use any props or external aids, such as PowerPoint presentations during their speeches. They are encouraged to speak from palm cards and must present without a lectern or microphone. Finally, a reminder that the prepared speech must explore multiculturalism.

The Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition is an inclusive competition. If, for whatever reason, your students will require support to enable them to participate, please contact the Speaking Competitions Officer so that we can assist.

The adjudicators will make their decision based on the matter, manner and method of the speakers. They will expect contestants to be confident and engaging and will prefer speeches which balance personal opinion with information and humour with sincerity. The prepared speeches need to show an understanding of multiculturalism, but the impromptu speeches do not. Finally, adjudicators will give equal consideration to the prepared and impromptu speeches. We recommend that speakers download the 2024 Multicultural Perspectives Speaker Advice (PDF 1.88 MB) for more detailed advice on speech writing and presentation in this competition.

Schools will likely need to conduct their own internal competition to select their two representatives for each age division. Next, we’ll let you know the date and venue of the local final we’ve assigned you to. Local finals will run in the last 4 weeks of Term 2 at host schools, but we’ll hold online finals if changing health advice requires it or for speakers who can’t travel to their nearest final. The winners of local finals will proceed to regional finals, which will be held in the second half of August. Regional winners will go on to compete at the state finals, which will run in late October for Years 3 and 4 and mid-November for Years 5 and 6.

All contestants involved in the competition will receive a certificate acknowledging their participation. Certificates of congratulations will then be awarded to all local and regional winners. State finalists will receive a silver medallion, and the state winners in each division will receive a gold medallion and a perpetual trophy.

The Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition is organised by the Arts Unit and the Multicultural Education team, both from the NSW Department of Education. In addition, the competition is made possible by the funding of the Multicultural Education team.

Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition 2018 – Promo

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• 2024 Multicultural Perspectives Information Guide (PDF 674.12 KB)
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Watch the 2023 state finals

Years 3 and 4.

Duration: 1:02:57

After tens of thousands of students tried out for a chance to represent their schools, and more than 2,000 of them went on to compete at one of 81 local finals across NSW, the 10 best speakers in Years 3 and 4 made it through to this state final, which was held at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre on Friday 20 October. Each speaker presents a 3-minute prepared speech about multiculturalism and then a 1-minute impromptu with only 5 minutes of preparation. Congratulations to these finalists and to all the students who participated in 2023, and a massive thanks to the Multicultural Education team of the NSW Department of Education, whose support and funding have kept this competition running throughout its 28 years.

Years 5 and 6

Duration: 1:23:08

After tens of thousands of students tried out for a chance to represent their schools, and more than 2,000 of them went on to compete at one of 81 local finals across NSW, the 10 best speakers in years 5 and 6 made it through to this state final, which was held at the NSW Teachers Federation Conference Centre on Friday 17 November. Each speaker presents a 4-minute prepared speech about multiculturalism and then a 2-minute impromptu with only 5 minutes of preparation. Congratulations to these finalists and to all the students who participated in 2023, and a massive thanks to the Multicultural Education team of the NSW Department of Education, whose support and funding have kept this competition running throughout its 28 years.

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The Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition encourages primary school students to explore ideas of multiculturalism in Australia, as well as giving them a place to practice their public speaking skills and improve their confidence.

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The 2024 Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition is proudly supported by the department's Multicultural Education Team and ACCO Brands Australia .

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16.1: Appendix A- Cultural Diversity and Public Speaking

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• Kris Barton & Barbara G. Tucker
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It goes without saying that the United States is becoming more and more diverse. The millennial generation, those born between 1980 and 2000, are described the most diverse generation in American history. Forty-three percent are “non-white” due, in part, to increased immigration from Asia and Latin America in the recent past (Lilley, 2014). Even more, news stories and research indicate that the majority in the U.S. is not White, male, Protestant, and middle class, but multi-racial and ethnic, of different religions, 51% female, and of varying socio-economic groups. The population of Dalton State College is particularly affected by these long-term trends. Dalton’s Latino population is about 50% and the College’s Latino student enrollment is approximately 27%. These kinds of statistics may be similar to your institution.

Some issues related to the U.S.’s growing diversity were addressed in Chapter 2. In this appendix, we will look at how diversity can be a help and sometimes a challenge to a speaker.

Benefits and Challenges

The first way that diversity can be a help is if the speaker himself or herself has been exposed to diverse groups of people. Diversity should also be understood as not just ethnic or racial, although those tend to be in the forefront of many minds. Diversity of thought is often a more important type of diversity than what might appear on the surface. Your audience may “look” and “sound” like you, but have a completely different world view.

However, diversity can be a challenge because the more diverse an audience, the harder audience analysis and accommodating one’s speech to the audience become. Also, one must be sure that he or she truly understands the diversity of a group. For example, it is assumed that all Arabic speakers are Muslims; however, persons of Lebanese and Palestinian background may be of a Christian faith. Likewise, many erroneously equate Muslims with Arab speakers and people of Arabic background, but the larges Muslim majority country is Indonesia. As mentioned in Chapter 2, “Latino” is a broad term that involves many distinct cultures that often observe or utilize very different customs, holidays, political views, foods, and practices. The historical experience of African-Americans is not that of Afro-Caribbeans. A white person from South Africa considers herself “African,” although we in the U.S. might scratch our heads at that because of how we traditionally think of “African.”

The more one can study cross-cultural communication issues, the more sensitive one can become. It is, of course, next to impossible to know every culture intimately; some of us are still working on learning our own! What one should recognize is the basic ways that cultures are categorized or grouped, based on certain characteristics, while at the same time appreciating cultural uniqueness. Even more, appreciating cultural uniqueness leads one to see predominant communication styles.

One common method for categorizing or discussing cultures is by “collectivist” or “individualistic.” The United States, Germany, Israel, and a few other countries are highly individualistic, while Asian, some Latino, and some African cultures are highly collectivistic. While we in the U.S. value family, we generally are expected and encouraged to make our own life choices in career, education, marriage, and living arrangements. In more collectivist cultures, the family or larger community would primarily decide those life choices. In some cases, the individual makes decisions based on what is better for the community as a whole rather than what he or she would personally prefer.

Closely related to the distinction between collectivistic and individualistic cultures is the distinction between high-context and low-context. High-context cultures are so closely tied together that behavioral norms are implicit, or not talked about clearly; they are just understood and have been learned through close observation. For example, if you and your friends have a routine of watching football every Sunday, saying, “I’ll see you guys this weekend for the game” implies that the “when” and “where” of the game is so ingrained that it doesn’t even need to be explicitly stated. Variations from the norms are so rare that learning them is easy; there is no confusion.

Low-context cultures have to be more explicit because individual freedoms and wider diversity of behavioral norms make learning through observations more difficult. Continuing the example from above, in these cases you might be gathering with a new group of friends who need explicit, high-context communication to know what is going on: “We’ll meet at Jay’s house on Bleaker Street at 11:30 on Sunday morning.”

High-context cultures are described as more

…relational, collectivist, intuitive, and contemplative. This means that people in these cultures emphasize interpersonal relationships. Developing trust is an important first step to any business transaction. . . . These cultures are collectivist, preferring group harmony and consensus to individual achievement. And people in these cultures are less governed by reason than by intuition or feelings. (Chaturvedi & Chaturvedi, 2013)

Unfortunately, due to cultural biases, this description may to some make individuals from high-context cultures sound “less than” in some ways compared to Western cultures, which are low-context cultures. This is something we should be very careful about in addressing an audience or developing relationships with those of other cultures. Low-context cultures are often described as more rational, action-oriented, practical, clear in their communication, efficient, precise, and factual. In contrast, high-context cultures spend more time on interpersonal trust, are less direct and straightforward, and may use more polite and flowery language. These descriptions can be problematic. Let us be clear that these descriptions are about generalized differences, but not about “better” or “worse” and definitely not about every individual member of the culture. A person from a high-context culture is perfectly capable of being rational, action-oriented, practical, etc., and a person from a low-context culture still values interpersonal trust and politeness.

Another way to distinguish cultural groups is how decisions are made and the predominant communication modes. As mentioned in Chapters 1 and 3, public speaking—a logical, rational, straightforward, individualistic mode of communication, where traditionally one person attempts to exert influence over others through verbal means—is at the core of Western communication history. Public speaking exists in the context of debate, two opposing views being presented either for one side to “win” or for the audience to choose a compromised, hybrid position. Other cultures have traditionally taken a more narrative communication mode, with storytelling being the way the important information is conveyed, more indirectly. Others value group discussion and keeping the harmony of the group, while others value almost exclusively the advice of elders in decision making. They believe the past and those who have experienced more of it have a wisdom all their own and are worthy of more respect.

In reference to cultural differences, we see the differences most obviously in nonverbal communication. While we Westerners may think of these nonverbal communication differences (such as the traditional Asian practice of greeting with a bow instead of shaking hands) as simply quaint or only superficial, they reveal deep difference in the world views of each culture. It would be worth your time to look into (easily done on the Internet) why Asians traditionally bow and Westerners shake hands. The practices say a lot about our shared histories and our views of the past, religion, and interpersonal trust. Likewise, it is not unusual for adult men friends of the same age to walk hand-in-hand in some Middle Eastern countries, but that is less common in the United States and has a totally different interpretation. In the two places, the same practice means two entirely different things.

Nonverbal communication, which is what is most obvious and visible to us when we experience a new culture, is divided into categories such as:

• Oculesics (eye behavior)
• Haptics (touch behavior)
• Proxemics (distance from others)
• Vocalics (voice characteristics)
• Chronemics (use of time in communication)
• Kinesics (use of the arms, legs, and posture)
• Olfactics (the meaning of smell in communication)
• Objectics (the use of objects to convey or interpret meaning)

Each of these has unique patterns in various cultures, and the differences in nonverbal communication behavior are often not understood to have deeper cultural meanings. Some cultures may avoid eye contact out of respect; their high-context nature means direct confrontation is discouraged. Westerners, however, tend to judge low eye contact rather harshly, as either dishonesty, disinterest, or low self-esteem. Likewise, Westerners value punctuality sometimes over relationships, although the higher the status of the individual, the more tolerant we can be of tardiness. The CEO of the company can be 15 minutes late for a meeting, but the employees would be disciplined for such tardiness. Other cultures simply do not understand the Western love affair with the hands on the clock. People from the United States are sometimes seen by other cultures as loud (vocalics), too direct and forward (oculesics), taking up too much space (kinesics and proxemics), and uncomfortable with touch or close spaces (haptics and proxemics).

Of course, most audiences of different cultural backgrounds may include those for whom English is a second (or third or fourth) language. Humor columnist Dave Barry ironically wrote, “Americans who travel abroad for the first time are often shocked to discover that, despite all the progress that has been made in the last 30 years, many foreign people still speak in foreign languages” (“Dave Barry Quotes,” 2013). Often second language speakers’ use of correct English is as good as or better than some native speakers in the United States[^1], but there will be some areas of concern here.

Watch out for metaphors, slang, and figurative language that simply have no meaning to non-native speakers of English. Many American expressions have to do with sports—everything from poker to football—and have no significance to those who have not grown up around those sports.[^2] Some of our expressions are actually racist or have a racist past, without our knowing or recognizing it because we do not know the origin of the phrase. When we say “bury the hatchet.” “go on the warpath,” or “put you in the paddy wagon,” “let’s hear from the peanut gallery,” or “I was gipped,” we are inadvertently referring to ethnic stereotypes as well as using references those of non-U.S. cultures would not understand.

Implications

What does all this mean to you, a college student taking a public speaking class? Well, as emerging technology makes communicating with people around the world easier and more common, there is a good chance you might find yourself communicating or interacting with persons from other cultures in your future careers. The ten items that follow should help you begin to navigate any such situations more effectively.

• Dealing with persons of other cultures may mean that the straightforward, supposedly “rational” approach expected from traditional public speaking may be too forceful for other cultures. More descriptive, more narrative, and more relational forms of communication may be of service. As mentioned in chapter 1, stories may be your most powerful form of communication, especially with audiences of diverse cultures. At the same time, choose your stories carefully (see the next bullet point below).
• Primarily, recognize the underlying values of the culture. The value and place of family stands out here. You would want to be sure to show respect to parents and grandparents in everything you say; if you cannot do that, do not mention them at all. Other values may have to do with how genders are treated, modesty in clothing, or criticism of the government.
• Do not jump to judge speakers of other cultures by Western standards. Time limits are a good example. While this book stresses speaking within time limits, a speaker from a high-context culture may not see strict time limits as a standard for speaking and may go overtime.
• Know your audience. Know what they appreciate (positive) and what would concern them (negative).
• Approach humor very carefully. Humor is highly contextual, personal, and cultural. Test your humor on a group representative before the presentation.
• Show knowledge of their culture. If speaking to an audience made up predominantly of persons who speak a certain language, learning a greeting or phrase in that language is a way to gain rapport. You could also use appropriate holiday references. Two presidents known for their oratorical abilities used this technique. When John F. Kennedy spoke in Berlin in 1963, he famously said, “Ich bin ein Berliner.” (Although many have claimed he was actually saying the equivalent of “I am a Danish pastry” instead of “I am a person from Berlin,” that myth has been debunked.) Either way, it did not matter; the crowd appreciated it. Ronald Reagan did much the same at the beginning of his historic “Tear Down This Wall” speech at the Brandenburg Gate in 1986. His accent was not great, but his grammar and message were clear.
• If the group is diverse, don’t leave out or marginalize someone by assuming all share exactly the same values or practices.
• Never “tokenize” someone by drawing attention to his or her difference, at least not without asking permission.
• Use the term preferred by the group to refer to them. Not all persons of Latin American descent want to be called “Latino/a,” according to the Pew Research Center (Lopez, 2013). In fact, more prefer Hispanic, which is the term used by the U.S. Census Bureau since the 1970. Recently the term “Latinx” has been created to be gender neutral.
• Always seek for commonalities over differences.

Below we have included some references sent to us by a professor in Zhuhai, People’s Republic of China. He shared them with us in reference to public speaking in Asian cultures. As the world becomes “smaller” and we are confronted with diversity more and more everyday, we should continue to build our knowledge and skill in intercultural communication.

Oliver, R.T. (1976). Rhetoric and the social matrix: Reflections from the Asian classics. Communication: A Journal of the Communication Association of the Pacific, 4(2), 134-151.

Oliver, R.T. (2009). The rhetorical tradition in China: Confucius and Mencius. Today’s Speech, 17(1), 3-8.

Gunaratne, S.A. (2009). Emerging global divides in media and communication theory: European universalism versus non-Western reactions. Asian Journal of Communication, 19(4), 366-383.

7 Tips to Prepare You for the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition

Public speaking can be daunting for anyone, but for children, it can be especially challenging.

Over the coming few weeks, students from public primary schools across New South Wales will be preparing for and presenting their submissions for the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition. This is one of the biggest public speaking competitions in Australia, and is run by the Arts Unit (which forms part of the NSW Department of Education), with around 2,000 students representing NSW Government Primary Schools each year in the finals series.

Given many primary schools would have dozens of students clamouring for this opportunity, most hold their own internal public speaking competition to select four representatives – one from each of Year 3 to Year 6 – to represent them in the finals series.

This can be quite an experience, especially for primary school students who only have minimal experience with public speaking – but it also represents a great way for students to build confidence, develop communication skills, and learn about different cultures.

If your child is planning to participate in the NSW Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition, here are some tips on how they can approach preparing their speech.

What is the format for the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition?

Formally, there are two elements to the NSW Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition – a prepared speech and an impromptu speech.

That said, for the preliminary public speaking competition at most schools, students are limited to just the prepared speech.

In terms of rules for the public speaking competition, they are generally quite simple. Whilst schools are entitled to set their own, all the students are generally required to:

• Choose one of the set topics for the public speaking competition (see below), which will form the basis of their speech;
• Ensure their speech conveys a message that relates to ‘multiculturalism’, ‘multicultural themes’ or ‘multicultural perspectives’;
• Reach the speaking time (which can also be seen below), making sure to stop before the warning bell; and
• Only use themselves and any prompts (like palm cards) – props and external aids are not allowed in the public speaking competition, nor can they use a lectern or microphone.

The time periods are also spelled out quite clearly, with students:

• In Years 3 & 4 being expected to reach 3 minutes (with a warning bell at 2 minutes, and a continuous bell at 4 minutes); and
• In Years 5 & 6 being encouraged to make 4 minutes (with a warning bell at 3 minutes, and a continuous bell at 5 minutes).

For those four primary school students who are selected to represent their public school, they will then move on to three levels of finals:

• A local final, which will be open to around 2,000 primary school students from across New South Wales, with the winners progressing to…
• A regional final, which will be whittled down to the best primary school students in each region, with the winners progressing further to…
• A state final, which will be open to the top public speakers in the state.

The local final, regional final and state final are held across the year – you can find out more about the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition on the NSW Arts Unit website here.

What are the topics for 2023?

Each year, the topics for the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition change – some topics from past years have included ‘ In my language ‘, ‘ Australia on the screen ‘ and phrases as simple as ‘ Healing ‘.

For 2023, there are separate topic lists for the two different age groups in the public speaking competition, each centring around different multicultural themes.

For Years 3 & 4, the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition topics are:

• Creating connections
• The story of Australia
• Racism – no way!
• Sport brings us together
• A safe place to call home
• When does a migrant become an Australian?
• Kids in charge!
• My multicultural classroom
• Watch your language!
• Advance Australia Fair?

Whilst the Year 5 & 6 Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition topics are:

• Everyday racism
• Colour matters
• My backyard
• Raising your voice
• Sport is a game-changer
• Learning from the past
• Identity – it’s complicated
• Difficult journeys

Some of these are repeated topics from last year’s public speaking competition – topics like ‘ Everyday racism ‘, ‘ Racism – no way! ‘ and ‘ The story of Australia ‘ made a return – whilst others are very similar to past topics used by the Arts Unit (‘Kids in charge ‘ this year is very similar to ‘Kids lead the way ‘ in 2022).  But that shouldn’t make too much of a difference – the world has evolved in the past 12 months, and there are plenty of new things to talk about this time around!

How should I prepare?

Great question – there are lots of ways to help give yourself an edge!

Check out the below to learn more about how to use your public speaking skills to their best advantage in the Multicultural Perspectives Competition.

Tip #1 – Check the official marking rubrics

A good place to start is to give some thought to what your judges might be looking for.

The Arts Unit has prepared a handy guide that can be found online here that looks at their advice for speakers and the public speaking skills they’re looking for – but in summary, students should:

• make sure that they speak to time , but don’t reach the continuous bell;
• put a strong emphasis on natural, conversational and relaxed speaking manner (so students can properly show off their public speaking skills);
• pick a public speaking topic from the provided lists (please see above), and ensure that their speech centres around multicultural themes or multicultural perspectives relating to that topic;
• make sure that their speech has an opinion or perspective on the topic that they are using to persuade their audience;
• present a balanced approach to public speaking , with a mix of things like big picture and personal, emotions and facts, and humour and sincerity; and
• follow, at least in part, a relatively standard speech structure – a catchy introduction, a body that explains 2-3 points and a conclusion that leaves audiences with a clear idea of what should happen next.

Many schools will also publish their own marking rubrics for the public speaking competition as well, which will give a better understanding of what your teachers are looking for when deciding who to put through to the finals. The public speaking skills each primary school is looking for will vary, but will generally involve some balance between the 3 M’s – Matter (the content), Method (the structure) and Manner (the way it’s presented).

Please keep an eye out for one of these if your public school has distributed it!

Tip #2 – Picking the right speech topic

One of the nice parts of the NSW Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition is the number of topics that the primary school students are provided with – whilst everyone must speak about multicultural themes or multicultural perspectives in some way, the variation and range of topics make it much easier for all the students to pick one that suits them!

We’ve pulled together a blog that focuses solely on this point which you can access here , but in summary:

• Have a look at the topics provided by the Arts Unit, and give each of them some thought about what they might mean;
• Brainstorm a list of topics that interest you and explore ideas related to those topics;
• Narrow down your list to a few speech topics that you feel passionate about;
• Decide on the purpose of your speech (do I want to inform, entertain or persuade my audience);
• Choose the topic for the public speaking competition that you can talk about most confidently and convincingly and use to show off your public speaking skills; and
• Do research on the topic to make sure your information is up-to-date, accurate and serves the aims of your speech!

Importantly, whilst some of the topics can have general meanings – think  ‘Privilege ‘ or ‘ My place ‘, it’s important to remember that the central concept needs to revolve around multicultural perspectives or multicultural themes – it is crucial to ensure that your message relates to this!

If you’re having difficulty coming up with a topic that suits you for the public speaking competitions, we’ve also put together a range of strategies that can help – you can check out a blog on interpreting speech topics here !

Tip #3 – Pull together your speech body

Whilst you always begin with an introduction when presenting, this isn’t actually how you should start your preparation for a public speaking competition.

Instead, it is almost always better to begin writing the body paragraphs of your speech first.

There are lots of ways that you can explore ideas and pull together points for a speech for a public speaking competition, but the main ideas you should keep in mind are:

• Body paragraphs are the heart and soul of a speech, typically comprised of three paragraphs.
• PEEL is a popular structure for body paragraphs; Point, Explain, Example and Link.
• Writing for speeches should keep in mind that its purpose is to be read aloud (which will have an impact on word choice and sentence length).

Rather than writing long lists of tips and tricks, the best way to learn more about preparing your speech paragraphs is to check out the below videos from our YouTube channel!

Tip #4 – Capture your audience’s attention

A good speech should have a clear and engaging introduction that captures the audience’s attention and shows off your public speaking skills.

Encourage your child to start with a strong hook – something that grabs the attention of their audience – rather than simply starting with their name and topic (which comes later).

We’ve got a detailed blog on how to start speeches for kids , but in summary:

• Many people feel anxious when they have to speak in front of an audience, especially in public speaking competitions where there is something at stake.
• Introductions are key – they should be engaging and excite the audience, especially children.
• Using a structure like CATS – Catchy Opening, Address the Audience, Topic and Signposting – can make a real difference.
• Starting with a personal anecdote or rhetorical question can be effective in grabbing attention.
• Bold statements, statistics and quotes may also work, but are often done poorly.
• When writing the introduction, keep it simple and focus on just one idea (which can be backed up by multiple arguments).

Finally, given audiences will make a strong first impression based on your introduction, it is very important to get things right – make sure that you practice it multiple times, so you sound confident and coherent when presenting!

Tip #5 – Conclude your speech with a strong call to action

Similarly, a good conclusion should summarise the main points of your speech and leave the audience with a lasting impression.

Encouraging your child to conclude with a call to action or thought-provoking question can help them to improve their speechwriting skills and their ability to communicate effectively. Not only can this make their speech more engaging and persuasive, but it can also encourage their audience to take action or think more deeply about the topic at hand.

One common structure for conclusions is ‘ESC’, which stands for:

• E: Ending Phrase – Use a short, easily understood phrase to let the audience know you’re concluding your speech (e.g. ‘In conclusion’).
• S: Summarise – Summarise the main ideas in your speech – this could be a list, but it is often more effective to summarise the key idea.
• C: Call to Action – Give a call to action or a thought-provoking question that leaves the audience understanding what you want their next step to be.

By developing this skill at a young age, your child will be better equipped to succeed not just in any presentation they may need to give, but in all areas of their life where communication is key.

Tip #6 – Practice, practice, practice

Preparing a speech doesn’t end once it’s been written.

Practice is key to delivering a confident and effective speech. Encourage your child to practice their speech in front of a mirror, family members, and friends.

Whilst speaking manner is viewed holistically by judges, it is important to pay attention to its elemental parts that build into the whole. The types of things that judges will often be looking for might include:

• Stance – how you hold yourself (ideally with a confident stature)
• Body language & gestures – how you use your body to convey meaning
• Eye contact – how often you look up at the audience
• Enunciation – how easily your words are understood
• Pace – the speed with which you talk, and the pauses that you take
• Tone & Expression – where you place emphasis and emotion in your voice

For each of these things, the most important thing is to be natural – you don’t need lots of hand gestures, and you shouldn’t be artificially looking up at the end of every sentence with a cursory glance. Try to make each of these things appear as conversational and natural as possible, and you’ll be a long way to presenting an engaging speech.

Whilst there are plenty more things that you can focus on, the most important thing is not to try conquering everything in one go – pick something, work on it, and then move on to the next thing. It’s impossible to focus on everything at once, which is why we use habits – actions we don’t really have to think about, but just do instinctively. The aim of practising is to ingrain at least some of these habits to make the actual presentation better.

One last thing to note is that the NSW Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition encourages students not to memorise their speech – even if they’ve reached the local final or even state final – but instead use dot points on their palm cards. This means that you don’t need to learn it word for word – which, especially in younger people, often ends up with a relatively mechanical display. Instead, you are able to present as naturally as possible with the aid of prompts if you get stuck.

If you’re looking for suggestions on how to improve your speaking manner, check out one of our Speak to Inspire videos below!

Tip #7 – Get feedback and revise

Finally, encourage your child to get feedback on their speech and revise it for the public speaking competition accordingly.

Speechwriting doesn’t end when you’re ready to start practising – instead, you should ask for feedback from teachers, coaches, or anyone who can provide constructive criticism. Having received this feedback, you should consider any suggestions for improvement and make revisions as needed.

If you reach a local final, or end up going even further to the regional or state final, make sure to keep in mind that your speech isn’t static – you are welcome (and even encouraged) to continue to refine it as you progress!

Keep in mind that the goal of the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition is not just to win, but also to learn and grow as a speaker.

Dealing with nerves

It’s entirely natural to feel anxious before delivering a speech or presentation, especially when it involves a public speaking competition.

However, it’s important to stay positive and to try some calming techniques. Take a few deep breaths and remind yourself that you’ve prepared for this. Trust yourself and your instincts and try to maintain a calm and confident demeanour throughout the presentation.

With a clear head, you can deliver your message with conviction and poise, impressing your audience and persuading them to your perspective with ease. Remember, everyone in the public speaking competition is in the same boat – they’ve either just given a speech, or will need to give one soon. The audience is on your side.

The worst thing that can really happen is forgetting what comes next, and even then, that’s okay – take a breath, make sure you’ve got your cards numbered, find your place and keep on going. You’ve got this.

Was some more information on how to deal with stage fright? Check out our blogs on beating the fear of public speaking and overcoming stage fright , or the below Speak to Inspire video!

What about impromptu speeches?

So, you’re one of the local finals speakers, or heading to the regional finals of the public speaking competition. You’ve crafted a magnificent speech using all the tips we’ve provided, but wait, there’s more!

Following the prepared speeches, you’ll need to deliver an impromptu speech – a compulsory part of the Multicultural Public Speaking Competition weighted equally to the prepared speech once you reach the finals series.

Whilst this doesn’t always appear at preliminary school rounds, some schools do use it as a tie-breaker when the teacher can’t decide between the prepared speeches, so it’s worth knowing how it all functions!

What’s going to happen?

At the public speaking competition, you’ll be ushered into a quiet room, seated at a desk and presented with an ostensibly random topic. And then the clock starts ticking! You’ll have a mere five minutes to build a brief presentation. No notes or plans can be worked on beforehand – just blank paper and palm cards to guide you.

The topic will be generic enough to leave plenty of room for interpretation, but rest assured, everyone at the public speaking competition will get the same one! It might seem daunting, but we promise, it’s not as scary as it sounds!

What are the rules?

The rules are set out by the Arts Unit, but can be summarised as follows.

First up is timing . All primary school students will receive the same five minutes of preparation time , with the following speaking times for each division:

• For Years 3 & 4 , students should aim to reach 1 minute (with a warning bell at 30 seconds, and a continuous bell at 1:30); and
• For Years 5 & 6 , students are expected to reach 2 minutes (with a warning bell at 90 seconds, and a continuous bell at 2:30).

It is important to not just fill the time with rambling, though – just like a prepared speech, the content you’re providing should be as concise as possible!

Second is the topic .

In 2022, the state finals impromptu speeches centred on ‘ A waste of time ‘ for Years 3 – 4 and ‘ Choosing sides ‘ for Years 5 – 6.

Whilst you could explore ideas relating to multicultural themes or multicultural perspectives for either of these topics, it’s important to remember that this is not only unnecessary but is in fact actively discouraged. Judges are looking for fresh expressions that distinguish impromptu presentations from prepared ones. Using content from prepared speeches, whether your own or someone else’s, is not recommended, so it’s generally better to simply avoid multicultural themes altogether.

Third and finally is how the impromptu presentations are judged .

The rules of what makes a good impromptu speech are exactly the same as for the prepared section of the public speaking competition:

• Matter – It’s best to choose a single focal point to present instead of a jumble of ideas that lack direction. After all, you want the audience to remember something unique and interesting, not a rundown of mundane details. With that said, always aim to differentiate yourself from the other competitors by discussing a topic that’s captivating and a little bit different.
• Manner – It’s important to present your impromptu speech with the same poise and confidence as your prepared speech.
• Method – Just because it’s an impromptu speech doesn’t mean it should lack structure. You still need an introduction, a body and a conclusion.

Preparing for unprepared speeches

Despite limited preparation time in the actual public speaking competition, it is actually possible to prepare for an unseen topic – the best way to prepare for an impromptu speech is three-fold.

First, familiarise yourself with different speech structures you might be able to use in a pinch. Given impromptu speeches are substantially shorter than prepared speeches, the structures will often be different and only involve presenting one point.

Second, prepare a range of engaging and interesting anecdotes that you can bend to the topic. These may be from your own lived experience, or otherwise be things that you find engaging and can speak passionately about.

Third, practice with a list of impromptu speaking topics – whilst you can source these yourself, you can also look at some topics we’ve collated here .

Still not sure how to prepare? Check out some of our Speak to Inspire videos below to learn more!

Preparing for the Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition can be a rewarding experience for primary school students across New South Wales.

By choosing a topic they are passionate about, researching it thoroughly, writing an engaging introduction and conclusion, practising their delivery, and getting feedback and revising, they can develop valuable communication skills and confidence.

Encourage your child to approach the NSW Multicultural Perspectives Public Speaking Competition with a positive attitude and a willingness to learn and grow.

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Public Speaking in a Multicultural World

Autor: AdeelAkram   •  May 14, 2013  •  Essay  •  930 Words (4 Pages)  •  3,040 Views

Multicultural is a very important thing in speeches, because in all of the speeches given in the world there are people from different culture attending that speech. Even if the lecturer is delivering his/her lecture to the class, then that class is somewhat multicultural. As Dr.Zakir Naik is delivering his speech there are many people listening to him but if we look closer than those people are from different cultures.

The Experts of intercultural Communication says that speech making becomes more complex as Cultural Diversity increases. Cultural Diversity in such a sense that, there is language difference from culture to culture, Thoughts also differ from culture to culture, because one culture and its language is quite different from another. Culture and diversity is closely bound “We communicate the way we do because we are raised in a particular culture and learn its language, rules and norms”.

Many Gestures are different in different parts of the world such as bowing in U.S is usually not done and criticized, but in Japan it shows respect and rank. Slouching is rude in North European areas and hands in pocket are disrespectful in turkey.

Examples of Cultural Diversity

In America most of the cases in the court are because of cultural diversity such as a movie named “Exorcism of Emily Rose”. It was found that the father had killed the girl by treating her in a religious way but she needed medical treatment, in America almost all of them are Christians but some believe in God and Ghosts while others don’t believe it, those defending the case were of the belief that Emily was possessed by a demon but the other party said that there is no such thing as ghost the things which were happening to Emily were purely natural and she needed medical attention.

Another example is that when I was in my 2nd semester and was given a project for opening a new business in Gujranwala. I and my group fellows made a plan for making a café which includes gaming and sheesha lounge from my perspective and that of my group members it was a must done in Gujranwala, because youngsters do not have any place to enjoy this thing. Our business plan was perfect as we surveyed everyone wanted this café, but our teacher said that this is very unethical this business plan if taken in to action will have a disastrous result and you will fail. But happened just because of cultural diversity we live in Sialkot and Gujranwala and has also seen Lahore and its colors so this café was 100% guaranteed success but our teacher was more of a religious type who disliked these things, even I don’t like it but if we talk about making money then this is an ideal business. He wanted us

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Promoting multilingual approaches in teaching and learning.

Multilingualism is good for us. Not only does speaking more than one language keep our brains healthy as we age, but it has multiple benefits for children too, such as giving them an academic advantage and improving their employment prospects once they leave school. Moreover, multilingualism gives us access to more than one culture and improves our understanding of our own cultures. 

But what does this mean for classroom teaching, especially in school contexts that equate English language proficiency with academic success? How can teachers harness the benefits of their students’ multilingualism, while simultaneously helping them to develop the academic language they need to succeed?

A team of Australia-based educational researchers has embraced this challenge by working with the British Council to produce a groundbreaking collection of multilingual classroom activities. These activities are aimed at teachers who work with English as a subject or use English as the medium of instruction in low-resource, multilingual classrooms. The team comprised researchers from the University of South Australia , Griffith and Macquarie Universities, all of whom have extensive experience of teaching in culturally and linguistically diverse contexts, including sub-Saharan Africa, northern Africa and southeast Asia. Two team members explain what lies behind the publication.

For many years, teachers of English have been told that using student’s home languages in English lessons should be avoided at all costs

A growing body of research literature shows that drawing on students’ home language and cultural backgrounds in classroom teaching validates their identities and provides a strong foundation for additional language learning. Yet the reality for many multilingual students, especially English language learners, has been that their home languages are left at the classroom door or regarded as an obstacle to the development of the language of schooling and learning in general. For many years, teachers of English have been told that using student’s home languages in English lessons should be avoided at all costs. 

Language as a resource 

Multilingual classrooms are a growing phenomenon around the world, as a result of rapid increases in global mobility and migration. Within these classrooms, students may have different linguistic and cultural backgrounds, may speak one language at home and another language at school, or be learning the language of instruction as an additional language. International agencies such as UNICEF, UNESCO and the European Commission contend that multilingual education can play a significant role in engaging diverse learners. As well as supporting academic success, classrooms that promote multilingualism can foster positive identities associated with their home cultures. This position is supported by Richard Ruiz’s notion of “ language as a resource ” (1984) which advocates for the use of students’ home languages as resources for learning and teaching. In practice, a language-as-resource perspective implies that teachers should use students’ home languages as a tool for thinking and communication while simultaneously learning and developing proficiency in the language of instruction. Nevertheless, English still overwhelmingly dominates lessons in many classrooms throughout the world where students read, write, listen and speak only in English. Despite considerable research pointing to the importance and benefits of incorporating multilingual pedagogies into classroom practice, there are few materials available to educators that explain how this can be done deliberately and systematically in lesson planning and lesson delivery.

Signs of change 

Happily, in recent years, publications, conferences and professional development materials have advanced thinking about the medium of instruction and ways to approach teaching that challenge the “national/official language-only” view.

Using multilingual approaches: Moving from theory to practice

A new British Council publication,  Using multilingual approaches: Moving from theory to practice , reflects the growing body of research evidence showing that preventing learners from using their home languages in the English language classroom not only impedes learning and denies their linguistic human rights, but also loses valuable opportunities for teachers to draw on their students’ knowledge and experience as resources for teaching. This collection of activities was developed in response to the British Council’s conscious decision to promote multilingual approaches to teaching English internationally. The activities are designed to acknowledge learners’ home languages and cultures when teaching English as an additional or foreign language or using English as the medium of instruction in multilingual classrooms. The activities are grounded in research-based pedagogic principles, briefly outlined below.

Funds of knowledge in the language classroom

It has long been recognised that one of the key characteristics of high-quality teaching is the ability of teachers to engage students’ prior understandings and experiences and background knowledge. This prior knowledge is encoded in their home languages, and therefore it is vital that teachers facilitate the transfer of both concepts and skills from students’ home languages to English. 

This view of language is complemented by Luis Moll’s notion of ‘ funds of knowledge (1992), which refers to the rich bodies of cultural knowledge that exist within students’ households and communities. Moll argues that when teachers tap into this type of knowledge by building relationships with their students and their wider social networks, they allow for meaningful learning opportunities. Teaching practices that tap into multilingual ways of reading, writing and speaking allow students to access the cultural resources that enhance the personal significance of their classroom work, as well as expanding access to knowledge through texts in more than one language.

Purposeful translanguaging

One of the most successful approaches to bilingual teaching and learning has been the purposeful and simultaneous use of two languages in the same classroom, a process that is referred to as translanguaging. The activities in this collection break new ground in being designed to enable teachers to constantly draw on and make use of students’ emergent bilingual skills. The activities are designed in a planned and purposeful way to encourage students draw on the most appropriate linguistic resources they have, allowing teachers to design intercultural and inclusive lessons that support English language learning but also draw on learners first languages and their community and family funds of knowledge. 

The activities were workshopped with and piloted by teachers in India, who applied them to their own classrooms and provided rich feedback and valuable ideas. This short film explains more about the process and rationale behind the resource.

Project leader, Associate Professor Kathleen Heugh sums up the social significance of the project in her observation that: “Forbidding a child to use his/her language is a violation of their rights, and deeply problematic for their future. We cannot afford to have students marginalized, feeling lost and falling out of the school system. Using students’ home languages, bringing in their own knowledge systems to the classroom should be the most important aspect of any school language policy”. 

Luis C. Moll, Cathy Amanti, Deborah Neff and Norma Gonzalez (1992) Funds of knowledge for teaching: Using a qualitative approach to connect homes and classrooms , Theory Into Practice, 31:2, 132-141.

Richard Ruíz (1984) Orientations in Language Planning , NABE Journal, 8:2, 15-34.